


A mouse with a strawhat?

by Monkey_d_anna



Category: One Piece
Genre: I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Protective Mugiwara no Ichimi | Straw Hat Pirates, hope you like it, not canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:53:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25805425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monkey_d_anna/pseuds/Monkey_d_anna
Summary: When the Strawhats found a young girl drifting in the water and took her in, they didn´t think much of it. The girl, however, brought many mysteries with her and they will soon find that the world sure is a small place.(I suck at summaries so sorry for the crappy thing)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	1. Girl in the water

**Author's Note:**

> What if the Srawhats had another member?  
> What if Luffy knew her from the past?  
> The story plays after water 7 and I hope you enjoy it.

Updated: 11 December 2020

It was just another day with the Strawhats. The weather was nice summerish and Luffy and Usopp decided to fish their next meal. They left water 7 a couple of days ago and they were still excited about the Thousand Sunny, especially the aquarium. They loved to add new pieces to their vast collection. 

While Zoro was at the lookout, the others enjoyed the weather with a nice, cool drink on the deck. It was a fairly peaceful day by their standards, but it didn´t last. When does it really?

"Guys! There is something in the water, at 9 o´clock. Looks like a person!" Zoro's voice echoed throughout the ship.

Almost immediately, Chopper leapt up from where he was sitting and bolted towards the railing. Luffy followed suit and truly, a girl was drifting in the sea on a tattered piece of wood. She looked injured and the two of them were about to dive overboard to save her, but luckily Nami stopped them just in time.

"What do you think you´re doing?" she yelled as she whacked them. "You can´t swim!"

At least they had the brain to look apologetic as Franky pulled her out of the water. She had long silver hair and pale skin that was almost entirely covered in injuries and blood. So much blood. Choppers smile turned into a worried frown when he saw her. The torn-up dress she was wearing was soaked ruddy and even the silver of her hair was barely recognizable. 

When the three of them vanished behind the door of the med bay, Zoro looked at his captain. The moment he saw her face, the visible parts, he fell oddly silent. He hadn´t ever seen him like this and he was curious. Did he know her?

"Something wrong, Luffy?" he asked.

"I-" he shook his head and smiled. All traces of a frown gone. "It´s nothing"

"If you´re sure," he narrowed his eyes at his captain as he watched him run to the kitchen, demanding food. Something was off about him.

# ... 

Several hours later, Chopper finally came out of the infirmary. Sweaty and exhausted, he gladly took the smoothie Sanji offered. With every passing hour of not knowing anything, they became worried. Sure, they didn´t know her, but she seemed young. Too young to be looking like this.

"She´s stable for now, but her wounds were fatal. She´s lucky, another day or two and she wouldn't have made it." Chopper said, taking another sip from his smoothie. "I´ll have to monitor her for a day though"

"WHO WOULD DO THAT TO A BEAUTY!?!???" Sanji raged, demon mode on. "I WILL KILL THE BASTARDS!!!!"

Ignoring the outburst, Chopper continued the report. "Doesn´t seem like the first time she was badly injured. There are numerous scars and there's a nasty burn on the neck, looks very old though" he paused, as if unsure how to phrase his next information. "If-if I´m not mistaken, there...is also indication of rape" 

At this point, Sanji literally exploded. They did nothing about it, because they were all upset too. Even Zoro's ever-present poker face broke a bit. Luffy was, once again, in his own world with a rather grim look in his eyes. Robin noticed.

"Captain-san?"

Shaking himself back to reality, Luffy turned to his crew. "We can ask her when she wakes up. I´ll leave her to you Chopper"

The reindeer saluted, set the now empty glass on the table and went back in. The crew slowly proceeded to go to bed, since it was already night, and Robin volunteered for the first watch.


	2. Mysterious girl wakes up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So......I rewrote this chapter ´cause I didn´t like it and you, unfortunately, have to wait a little longer for the next. I have the outline but I still need to write it down.
> 
> I´ll try to put up a schedule though. Stay tuned ; )

Heavy.

That´s the first thing she felt as she woke up. The next she noted was, that her eyes refused to open and pain. Pain all over her body. There wasn´t a place that did not hurt, but one step at a time. It took her a whole ten minutes to pry her eyes open and another five to actually see something. _Why is it so bright? ___

"Oh, you´re awake!" an unknown voice said, making her flinch. The person was male, but it sounded young, so it should be safe.

Turning her head towards the voice was painful, but she managed to look at "... a reindeer?"

The reindeer was small and cute. He was wearing a adorable hat and was not exactly what she had expected, but better than...... _yeah._

"How are you feeling?" he asked and came closer. She was honestky afraid, but tried not to show it.

"...like shit," she said and tried to sit up. Bad idea. Her head was spinning so fast, she feared it might explode.

"No sudden movements! You are still injured!" Gentle hands helped her slowly in a sitting position. _Wait, hands? _Once everything stopped spinning, she stared at the reindeer, who now looked more like a furry human. _Must be a zoan... _____

"You´re a doctor?"

"Yes," he smiled, back to small and cute. "Is it ok for me to examine you?"

The question surprised her. Normally people just did whatever they liked with her, but he asked if it was okay. She hesitated. He seemed nice enough, but memories of past doctor appointments flooded her head and made it spin again. It took her a couple of minutes, but in the end, she trusted her gut. 

He was.... gentle. There was no other way to describe him and she gradually relaxed. Not entirely, though, she was still on an unknown ship. That she was on a ship became obvious after a while of swaying and the salty scent in the air.

"So, what´s your name?" he asked while changing some bandages. That´s strange. Doesn't he care about the giant brandmark on her back? _Maybe he didn´t see it?_

".....Hitomi"

"That´s a pretty name" he smiled. Unlike the smiles she received up until now, this was an honest one. She could tell. "My name is Chopper. Where are you from?"

Hitomi looked away when he took blood, she can´t stand seeing it. ".....East blue"

"Really?" He put the containers on the table and looked at her with that bright smile of his. "Our captain and some from our crew are from the East blue! Though, I was born here on the Grand Line"

The moment she opened her mouth to ask about the crew he mentioned, the door burst open and someone came in. Said someone was carrying plates full of food and drinks. How he manages to balance all this remains a mystery. The second, however, their eyes met, he nearly dropped them.

"OHHH! What a beauty!! There is a goddess in front of me!!!!!" he shouted, hearts as eyes and blood exploding from his nose. Hitomi was honestly freaked out.

"Agh!! Sanji, don´t die!!" Chopper yelled panicked. Good thing they were already in the infirmary. 

The commotion attracted other visitors and when they entered, she finally realised where she was. She was on a pirate ship. The Stawhats pirate ship to be exact. Frightened by the sudden crowd, she slid as far into the corner as she could.

"What happened?" the orange-haired girl asked.

"Sanji made direct eye-contact with Hitomi and got a major nosebleed" Chopper explained, trying to stop the bleeding. By the way they all visibly relaxed, hinted that him bleeding like a water fountain was normal. Not very welcoming.

"Hitomi?" Nico Robin questioned. The crew then turned to look at her curiously, making her even more uncomfortable. 

"Ah, so you´re Hitomi-chan? Nice to meet you, I´m Nami" she said and sat on the bed with her. She didn´t particularly mind, as long as the men stayed away. Which, for some reason, that seemed to be the case. All the male crewmembers seated themselves as far away as possible.

"......I know who you are. Everyone does after Ernies Lobby" she said in a quiet voice, but looked at the long-nosed guy confused. "Although, who are you?"

"I´m the great captain Usopp, warrior of the sea!" he exclaimed, puffing his chest.

Hitomi looked even more confused and pointed at Luffy. "....But he is the captain, no?"

The Stawhats laughed at this, but she felt someone glaring at her. That someone was the pirate hunter, Roronoa Zoro. It wasn´t a hostile glare, more like a calculating one. Like he was trying to get into her head and understand her intentions.

"You wanna know if I´m an enemy or not?" she asked shyly, looking directly at him. The laughter died down and everyone stared at the unofficial first mate of the crew.

"You're a stranger. You could be a marine for all we know," he said, earning a kick from Sanji. Luffy continued to observe her silently.

"You´re right," she said numbly "You should just throw me back into the ocean"

This caught them all off guard, even Zoro. "What?"

She said nothing as she continued to fixate the ground with her blue eyes. There was no hope after all. _**They**_ will surely find her eventually and everything will be back to normal. As it has always been.

“We´re not going to do that” Luffy spoke for the first time. Hitomi looked at him surprised. “You are not an enemy and even if you were, Chopper won´t just let a person die before his eyes.”

Feeling her glance at him, Chopper nodded smiling proudly. The rest of the crew wore the same expression and even Zoro visibly relaxed. It was startling how much they trusted their captains judgement. It left her speechless.

.. 

"Why were you drifting in the water?" Nami asked and gave her a sandwich Sanji brought. 

".....I escaped from....somewhere, but I got caught in a storm and lost my log pose" The Strawhats looked at each other, but decided not to question it yet.

"Yeah, without a log pose, it´s nearly impossible to survive on the Grand Line," Nami nodded in understanding.

"Oh yeah, she said she´s from the East Blue" Chopper suddenly chipped in, munching his sandwich.

"Really? Me too" Usopp said. Nami and Zoro nodded their heads to show that they, too, came from there. Luffy, once again, remained silent.

"When did you enter the Grand Line, Hitomi-chan?" Robin asked

She put her hand on her chin in a thinking manner, not taking even one tiny bite from the sandwich. You never know. "Hhmm...I think I'm 16 now so....about a year ago, maybe"

"Think?"

"Well, it´s hard not to lose track of time after years on a pirate ship," she said matter-of-factly. When she realised what she just said, her eyes widen and she covered her mouth. What concerned the crew greatly, was the way she tried to make herself as small as possible, as if expecting punishment for what she said.

"You are a pirate?" Franky asked surprised. 

"....No?" she said unsure. While she did spend many years on a pirate ship, she never considered herself one. Others, though, treated her as one and not in the nicest way. Many scars pulsed with phantom pain as her surroundings began to blur.

 _"How dare you talk back to me, you filthy pirate?!"_

_Hitomi bit her lip, trying not to scream. Warm blood tripped down her chin as her teeth sunk in and tore the sensetive skin open. This was the fifth punishment today. She straight-up refused to listen to him, her freedom couldn´t have just lasted that little! It was barely a month before she was captured again. She couldn´t, no, wouldn´t believe it-_

_A hand grabbed her by the throat, choking her. She tried to punch the bastard, but that only resulted in a firmer grip. "_

_When I´m done with you" he growled in a dangerously low voice "You´re gonna be as obedient as a dog. You will do whatever I tell you to with no objections. Got that, filth?"_

_With tears she refused to let loose, Hitomi nodded. She was thrown back to her cage and she desperately tried to breathe again-_

"...-chan? Hit...-..an? Hitomi-chan?"

She was vaguely aware of a person calling her name and when a warm, gentle hand landed on her shoulder, she flinched away "Don´t. Touch. Me." she hissed. The hand withdrew itself, giving her space. The room slowly started taking shape again.

Chopper was in front of her, that much she understood. "-with me, ok? Inhale....exhale...inh-"

When she was fully back on the Thousand Sunny, she let out a tired sigh and leaned back against the wall. "...sorry"

"You don´t have to apologise" Nami smiled calmly.

"Are you ok, Hitomi-chan?" Sanji asked, genuine concern lacing his voice. "Want me to bring you something else to eat or maybe a cool drink?"

".....I´m ok" she lied. She didn´t want to be more of a burden than she already was.

"I think that´s a good idea," Luffy suddenly jumped up from where he was sitting and headed towards the door. "Sanji! Make sure to cook something with cheese" He smiled and left.

Sanji lit a cigarette and didn´t waste time following his captains order, bolting out of the door. The normal walking Usopp, Franky and Zoro followed. Since Hitomi was unable to walk just yet, she let Chopper carry her bride-style. Nami and Robin did a good job distracting her of the fact that a _man_ was touching her and she was internally thanking them for that.

They were sure he was in the kitchen, so it came as a surprise when they caught glimpse of a straw hat on the figurehead of the Sunny. He had a weird, sad aura around him and Hitomi had a suspicion that it was because of her.

_Look, you make people suffer because of your existence again_

"Luffy?" Nami called out "Aren´t you eating with us?"

The captain turned around and flashed them one of his sunny smiles. "Shishishi! Of course, I am!" He stretched his arms, grabbed a hold of the railing in front of them and sling-shot himself over. Hitomi flinched when he suddenly appeared in her personal space. Luffy noticed, as his gaze softened and he stepped away, letting them enter first. 

# \-- 

This crew is chaotic.

That was something Nico Robin knew from the very moment she met them. Especially meals were a big deal. Everyone defended their food as if their life depended on it. Although, Luffy knew better than to even glance at the girls, knowing the consequences. He always steals from others, regardless of their status.

So, when she saw that he didn´t attempt to steal from Hitomi-chan, she was curious.

"You said you were from the East Blue, Hitomi-chan?" she asked the girl. Hitomi-chan looked at her with big eyes, nibbling on a piece of bread. She wasn´t eating much, Robin noted.

".....yes, why?" she replied, blue eyes narrowing.

"Just curious" Robin smiled, head resting on the palm of her hand. "Where exactly, if I may ask?"

Hitomi-chan gulped down the tiny bite and glanced at Luffy, before looking away completely. ".....Dawn Island"

She didn´t miss Luffy stiffening slightly and slowing his eating speed. From the looks of it, neither did Zoro. Nami was also frowning, but for a whole other reason.

"You mean Goa Kingdom?" Hitomi-chan nodded once. "I´ve heard of it. It is supposed to be a beautiful city. I always wanted to visit and stea- I mean look around" Nami beamed.

"Yeah, right" Zoro snorted, earning a punch

"So, are you rich or something?" Usopp asked, giving up on a piece of meat Luffy stole. "I heard a bunch of nobles and rich live there."

Hitomi-chans eyes darkened and her expression turned sour. She shook her head. "....far from it. I grew up in Grey Terminal"

While they were clueless, Luffy looked sympathetic. Well, as sympathetic as someone can look with a mother stuffed like a chipmunk. 

"You know about it, Luffy?" Sanji asked surprised. "For I can remember, Grey Terminal isn´t mentioned on any map"

Luffy chuckled, swallowing a massive chunk of meat. "Of course not. It´s a scrapyard. Why do you think Goa is so clean? They just throw everything there" He then proceeded to steal the gaping Choppers plate, as if what he said was the most normal thing in the world.

"If...if it´s a scrapyard, why were you living there and not in the city?" Usopp asked Hitomi-chan.

"Oh....they throw useless people there too" she shrugged. She cringed when the mood around the table shifted and everyone, except for Luffy, stopped eating.

"What?" Franky said outraged, trying to keep himself from shouting. Hitomi-chan looked frightened enough as it was. It almost looked like she was expecting to be beaten to death.

"She said....the nobles....threw people...they didn´t need...there," Luffy said in between bites, seemingly unaware of the current mood.

Nami stared at him like he grew a second head. "How can you be so calm?!" she raged "Don´t you have a heart?"

"Hey....why are you hitting me?" he whined "Besides, I saw that happen every day! It´s nothing new!"

His crew looked at him stunned. Robin was already putting two and two together and concluded that their rubber-captain and the mysterious girl grew up on the same island and knew each other. It was confirmed just a minute later.

"......You don´t know where your captain grew up?" Hitomi-chan asked just as stunned, though shy and unsure if she was allowed to ask a question.

Robin chuckled, breaking the tension. "Until now, I´m afraid we didn´t"

Hitomi-chans mouth formed an 'O' shape as she looked at her still full plate. Robin, and Sanji, were beginning to worry about that. She was unnaturally thin and looked way younger than 16.

Despite his concerns, however, Sanji grabbed Luffy by the collar of his shirt, forcefully shaking him and demanding to know why the shitty captain never mentioned a beauty like her.

The yelling made Hitomi-chan abandon her food completely and curl into a ball. She was covering her ears and trembling. Before Robin had the chance to ask if she was alright, she fainted. Luckily, Robin was quick enough to catch her and prevent further injuries.

"Hitomi-chan?" Nami gasped.

Chopper was already by her side, checking her vitals. The sudden occurrence had Sanji freeze mid-shake. Zoro glanced up as Usopp and Franky yelped in alarm. They were all concerned about their friend.

"What happened?" Usopp gasped. "Why did she suddenly pass out?"

"Many reasons" Chopper replied, a frown present on his face. "She hasn´t been eating properly for a while now it seems and the injuries are quite painful. But I think the main reason is the shock"

"Shock?"

"The shitty cook was too loud," Zoro said as if it was obvious.

"What did you say, marimo?!"

"I _said_ you were scaring her, ero-cook"

Franky separated the two with a sigh. "Doesn´t matter. We will just have to be careful not to be too loud in front of her" he frowned "Something serious must have happened to Lil sis"

"Maybe she was sold and forced to kill," Robin theorised in her mystic voice.

"Don´t say that!!" Nami and Usopp cried.

"Anyway, I´m taking her back to the infirmary," Chopper said as he carefully scooped her up 

"Hhmm...." Luffy hummed, eyes trailing after Hitomi-chan in open curiosity. Another emotion flashed through them, though too fast for Robin, or anyone, to place.

Later that day, Robin visited the library and did a little research on Dawn island.


	3. A very lively skeleton

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Hitomi meets a pervy skeleton and the crew is caught up in a new adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, school started and I´ll be busy with homework, but I will try to post every Monday. If I don´t have time I will post a new chapter a day or two later.  
> Anyway, I hope you like this chapter

The next time Hitomi woke up, she was alone. It was dark in the small room, but she recognized it to be the nursery she woke up in first. As sat up, she wondered how long she had been unconscious. 

_Why did I pass out again?_ she asked herself as she scanned the room for anything new. _Oh....right. I freaked out because of the noise_ she remembered and ran a hand through her long, silver hair. _They must think I´m a freak..._

At the edge of the bed, she saw a pair of clothes. There was a note on top and she found that they were for her. Moving wasn´t that big of a challenge now, as her injuries were already healing. She always healed fast.

Stepping out of the room, all she saw was fog. It was so thick, she couldn't make out anything beyond the ship. Though, there was a really huge one right next to them. It looked lto be a haunted ghost ship. She stared at it blankly and moved on. She had seen much scarier things. 

Seeing as no one was on deck, she assumed they were in the dining room. Scratching her head she entered...

"Hitomi-chan! You´re awake!!" Nami squealed happily.

Hitomi on her part, froze. They were there alright. It just that a skeleton joined them for a cup of tea. They stared at each other, before Hitomi sighed and shook her head. She was too tired for this.

Noticing Robin gesture towards the seat next to her, she complied and sat down. The woman frowned when she kept her gaze down, but didn´t say anything.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Hitomi noticed Chopper and.....Usopp was it? sitting on the couch with crosses, garlic and other anti-demonic stuff, scared shitless. Understandable.

"Yohohoho! What a lovely lady!" the skeleton commented and leaned closer. "May I see your pansies?"

Hitomi stiffened and Nami took action in her stead. "STOP ASKING THAT!!"

"By the way," Luffy cut in, ignoring the growing bulge peeking out of the afro. What´s up with that anyway? "What on earth are you?"

Good question.

"Well-" the skeleton- Brook, according to Robin- was cut off by Sanji.

"Let´s postpone the whole living skeleton thing. It´s time to eat." he said, balancing food on trays."Hitomi-chwan, I cooked something special just for you" He spoke to her with hearts in his eyes. A glare from Nami made him serious again and he sat down her plate. "It´ll help you recover faster"

While she appreciated the thought, the sight of that much food made her physically sick. To others, it may look like an ordinary portion, but she could live for weeks with that. Just a slice of bread was all she grabbed for herself. Unbeknownst to her, Sanji noticed. And he was growing more worried with each passing minute. He had to think of a way to make her eat, or he would be a failure as a cook.

# .

# .

# .

# 

"Yomi-yomi no mi?"

"A devil fruit, right?"

"That´s right! The truth is, I already died some decades ago" Brook the now skeleton said. He then told them about the fruit and about what happened to his crew. Hitomi wasn´t really listening, only taking in the important information as he bombarded the supposed sad story with jokes. He also had bad manners. Burping and farting every so often, but she didn´t think she had the right to say something about it.

"You´re just as stupid as Zoro, huh?" Luffy commented when Brook got to the part where he got lost and couldn´t find his body.

"OI!"

Hitomi held back a chuckle, not wanting to do anything unnecessary to anger them.

The thing with the afro was....weird, but who was she to judge. The Grand Line held many mysteries and they were literally talking to a living skeleton. Him having an afro was extraordinary, but she honestly could not imagine him without one.

The fact that freaked her out a bit, though she didn´t show, was the fact that he did NOT have a shadow, let alone a reflection. She wasn´t the only one.

"HE´S A VAMPIRE!!" most of the crew screamed. Nami, Chopper and Usopp looked close to fainting, but Brook just sat back down and took a sip from his tea.

"How can you be so calm?!?!???" Sanji yelled.

"I´ll tell you everything now," he said "It has been a long time since I began drifting on this sea...Being a skeleton and not having a shadow are completely different things" Luffy and the others looked at him curiously, but what he said next had Saji yelling again. "To be continued in the next chapter...."

Hitomi snorted this time around. However, she fell deadly silent directly afterwards, looking around panicked. She wasn´t allowed to laugh, but it appeared like no one noticed. _Lucky_

"Some years ago" Brook continued "A man snatched away my shadow"

"Your shadow?"

"You´re a talking skeleton. It doesn´t matter what you say. It won´t surprise us anymore, right?" Zoro said.

"But it could!" Brook countered "A shadow being stolen...It means that I cannot exist in a world with light" At the questioning looks, he elaborated. "If my body is exposed to sunlight, it will disappear. I saw someone I met disappear under the sun in front of my eyes! It was a horrible sight for me, even though I´m a skeleton" He suddenly stood up. "I also cannot be seen in a mirror or a photograph! In short, mine is an existence rejected by light!" Now he was cheerful. Hitomi tilted her head. "My Nakama were all annihilated! I´m "Dead-Bones" Brook, nice to meet you!!"

"Why are you so cheerful? Your life sucks" Sanji deadpanned.

"And even then, I´m alive and kicking! As a skeleton though, Yohohoho!!"

"SHUT UP!!"

In all honesty, Hitomi just felt bad for him. Being alone in this dark sea for decades, having his shadow stolen and having no track of time must´ve been hard. It wasn´t surprising that he was masking his pain with fake happiness and humour. She saw that happen many times before. Being lonely does stuff, you know? But even under that mask, he seemed genuinely happy right now.

He then declined the offer of joining the crew and Hitomi wondered when that happened. Not that she had anything to do with it, she wasn't even part of this crew. Just a stray they picked up on the way and abandon when she's fully healed. 

His reasoning was simple. Since he didn´t have a shadow, he would just be a burden and would sooner or later disappear. He also said that he wanted his shadow back no matter what.

"If that´s the case, we´ll just get your shadow back" Luffy yelled determined. "Tell me who stole it!!"

Brook was left in stunned silence. "....You´re a good person, I´m surprised. Even then, I cannot tell you that. I only just met you. You shouldn´t say that you´ll die for me..."

Franky raised an eyebrow. "Is the enemy that strong?"

"No, I won´t say it. You can´t make me, Yohohoho" Brook pulled out a violin seemingly out of nowhere. Just then, a ghost appeared in the kitchen and only Hitomi noticed. "However, let´s sing! I´m very proud of my abilities. I used to be a musician on my pirate ship"

"Eeehh?? Really??" Luffy had literal stars in his eyes "I´m begging you! Be my Nakama!!!"

"YOHOHOHO!! Let´s sing a happy son- GYAAAAAA!!" Oh...he noticed the ghost. Ah, the others did too.

The ship then suddenly started vibrating and waver. Brook ran out, followed closely by the rest. What they saw outside was a gigantic mouth and an even bigger island.

"WHY IS THERE AN ISLAND?!??"

"This is the Ghost Island that wanders through this sea "Thriller Bark"" Brook yelled.

"A wandering island? Ah, the log pose isn´t responding" Nami said, checking her wrist.

"Today is a lucky day," Brook said, excitement evident in his voice. "Not only was I able to meet some people, my heart´s desire was fulfilled! Yohohoho!" A small hop had him practically flying to the front of the ship.

"Wow! His body is so light!"

"Yohohoho!! That´s right! As light as dead bones!" Brook laughed. "Please try to break through the back of the gate and escape! Do not even think about lowering your anchor at this island!! I´m so glad that I met you today and could eat your delicious food. I´ll never forget you!!" He took a step backwards and fell into the sea.

"HEY, HEY! You´re a devil fruit user!!"

"WHAT ARE YOU THINKING JUMPING INTO THE SEA?!??"

Surprisingly, Brook didn´t fall into the sea as expected. Instead, he was seen running on the water, making his way to the island.

"HE CAN RUN ON TOP OF THE SEA?!!"

"A-anyway, let´s do as he told us, Luffy!"

"We don´t know what will happen, but this island is definitely dangerous!"

Nami and Usopp turned to their captain, only to find him not listening at all. He had an expression that suggested that they weren´t leaving anytime soon.

"YOU WANT TO GO??"

# \-- 

"Hey! Where did that ghost from before go? Is it still on the ship?" Chopper asked.

"No, he flew towards the island. He probably lives there" The marimo shrugged

Sanji was already walking to the kitchen. If he knew Luffy, he would want a pirate bento. Robin-chan also came by and helped him with the lunchboxes. They ignored the commotion going on and were ready just as Luffy demanded the food.

"Luffy! Franky! You two better protect Robin-chan!!" He yelled at them. If they let anything happen to her, he will have their heads.

"Franky and Robin are going too??" Nami-san asked shocked while Franky was getting pumped up.

Someone was missing, he suddenly noticed. He did a headcount and he saw that Hitomi-chan wasn´t there. A little bit panicked, he ran around the ship, earning confused and worried looks from his crew. But he honestly didn´t care right now. Hitomi-chan was his first priority!

_What if she had another panic attack all alone?? Is she ok? What-_ he paled. _What if she passed out because of hunger? Is it my fault?_

"Hitomi-chan?!" he called out and burst into the infirmary. She was there. Awake and luckily not having a panic attack. He sighed in relief. 

Hitomi-chan obviously wasn´t expecting someone to storm in and the shock made her disappear before his eyes. At least, that´s what he thought until he noticed a grey little mouse on the spot she was previously standing. "....Hitomi-chan?"

The little mouse squeaked and ran under the bed. Still confused, Sanji stepped forward but remembered what Nami-san told him.

 _"Whatever you do, don´t ever get too close to her. At least not yet. She obviously has something against men and that´ll just unnecessary frighten her. It seems like she doesn´t mind Chopper, Robin and me, so we´ll try to be with her at all times"_

_Right_ He took the step right back and called for Chopper, who appeared immediately. The others had picked up on his distress and started searching too.

"Where is she?" he asked. Sanji silently pointed at the bed. Confused, Chopper went where he was told to and looked under. His eyes widen at the sight of the mouse. "Hitomi? It´s me, Chopper," he said in a soothing voice. "You´re safe, no ones going to hurt you. Do you want to come out? Sanji can stay away if it helps"

Sanji huffed, but said nothing.

Very reluctantly, the mouse came out of the corner and climbed on Choppers offering hoof. He in return, placed her on the bed, where she turned human again. What both males immediately noticed, was that she had ripped off most of her bandages. 

"You ate a devil fruit?" Chopper asked and went to put the bandages back on. Hitomi-chan stopped him.

".....Yes"

"Why did you take off the bandages?"

"....They were too tight" She said, never meeting their eyes. She looked like a kid waiting to be punished for her actions. That alone panged painfully in Sanji´s chest. Oh he was so kicking the asses of those who made her think like that.

"It´s ok" Chopper smiled "I can wrap them looser if you want, but not too loose! You need them!" 

Hitomi-chan nodded and Sanji took it as his cue to leave.

Back on the deck, he lit up a new cigarette and took a deep breath. He desperately wanted to know more about Hitomi-chan, but she never spoke unless spoken to. And even then, she didn´t talk about herself. The only thing they knew was that she grew up on the same island as Luffy and, according to him, disappeared at a young age from there. Whoever took her was in for a beating. Even if Luffy seemed indifferent, the crew knew that he was fuming. He, too, wanted to beat that person into a pulp for traumatizing an innocent girl.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, that he didn´t notice Chopper and Hitomi-chan coming out of the infirmary, or Franky introducing the soldier deck system: channel two. What brought him back to reality was Nami-san, Usopp and Chopper paddling away on the Mini Merry 2. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he watched them have fun.

"He must´ve really put his heart into that design," the shitty swordsman said. 

"With a ship like this I can go buy supplies any time." Sanji voiced out his thoughts while Luffy was eager to switch and ride her. 

Franky then told them about the different channels and the awesomeness of this ship, but Sanji wasn´t really listening. He just watched his beautiful Nami-san have fun, all while still keeping an eye on Hitomi-chan, who stayed close to Robin-chan. She was currently the only person on board she somewhat trusted, so she was glued to her side.

"Hey, Nami-san and the others are taking too long" he frowned after a while.

"GYAAAAAAA!!!!"

"NAMI-SAAAN?? WHAT IS IT?? DID SOMETHING HAPPEN?" he screamed

"Whatever happened to them, we can´t see anything in this fog," marimo said.

"But the sound came from the island" Robin-chan pointed out, facing the direction the screams came from. 

Luffy ran to the railing "HEYYY! Hurry, let me ride the Mini Merry too!!!!"

Sanji smacked him over the head. "Stop that!! Be at least a little worried about Nami-san!!"

"What about you? Are you worried about the other two at all?" Franky raised an eyebrow. Sanji swiftly ignored him.

"That scream just now, what if they were cursed, or killed by a ghost?"

"It´d be a bad omen if something like that happened this close to the ship." Franky sweatdropped at Robin-chan´s statement.

Then, without a warning or anyone touching it, the anchor dropped.

"..?! There´s no way someone could have released it!!"

"Anyways, pull it back up or the ship will go off balance!!" Sanji yelled just as the hatch opened. Naturally, everyone was freaked out.

"Hey Luffy!! What are you doing goofing around at a time like this?!!" he yelled at his captain. True to his word though, his cheeks were stretching on their own and then suddenly released. The force knocked him down.

There was a roar and one of marimos swords unsheathed itself, nearly stabbing Luffy if Franky hadn´t kicked him out of the way.

"Hey! What were you trying to do?!" he yelled at the swordsman.

"I´m sorry!! The katana just...?"

"They´re giving us a sign..."

"Something´s here, huh?" Sanji concluded as he glanced at Hitomi-chan. Surprisingly, she wasn´t as scared as he thought she would be. She was quite calm about the situation, even if her eyes darted into every direction possible. 

"Is this really a ghost's doing?" Franky asked, also looking around. "Or maybe some kind of fruit user...?"

"Shit!!" Sanji cursed as he jumped on the railing. "Whatever, the fact that we´re unfamiliar with this place is undeniable. But I´m more worried about Nami-san and the others! I´ll leave the ship to you guys!!"

He leapt off the ship, but slammed right to the side. The next moment he was floating in the air with an invisible force holding him by the ankles. It hurt. 

"Whoa!! Sanji is floating!!..... HEY SANJI?!" Luffy yelled as Sanji was thrown back on the ship, crashing into some empty barrels. That hurt more. 

When he was back to his feet, Robin-chan let out a scream.

"What happened Robin-chan??"

"Something´s....trying to grab me!" she said as she struggled against the invisible force. All of a sudden, Robin-chan fell forward just as Hitomi-chan let out a muffled scream.

The force was now with her, touching her body. Hitomi-chan froze and silent tears escaped her eyes. She was petrified.

That´s what Sanji is there for. With a strong kick, he sent the force flying and took a defensive stance in front of Hitomi-chan. "Don´t you dare touch Hitomi-chan ever again, you son of a bitch!!"

There was another roar, but whatever it was didn´t try to come near the girl again. The ship started to rock aggressively as artificial waves loomed high and lead their ship, along with Brooks, right into a giant spiderweb.

"Well, can´t help but stay put," Sanji deadpanned

"That skeleton jerks ship too" Marimo said, looking around. "Even the Mini Merry Usopp and the others rode in is trapped in the web. I can´t help but think this was actually all planned. At this point, it´s the entrance of this island. It looks like the ghosts are beckoning us."

Even as he said all that, nobody really listened and went overboard.

"What are you rambling about, Zoro?" Luffy yelled "You too, come. Since we are trapped here anyway, let´s do some exploring!"

Zoro signed and followed his idiot captain. Sanji noticed Hitomi-chan trailing behind Robin-chan and couldn´t help smiling when she didn´t flinch back when he positioned himself behind them. That was progress. Slowly but steadily, they will have to gain her trust and then she can officially join them. While no one spoke it out loud, they knew that she belonged here. This was her home. It was the same feeling they had with all of them, even with the former enemies they couldn´t quite hate.

Hitomi-chan is a Strawhat, whenever she likes it or not.


	4. Zombies?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Hitomi meets zombies for the first time.

"Why´re there all of a sudden these stairs leading down?"

"It said entrance so it doesn´t matter thinking about it," Luffy said as he hopped down the stairs.

Zoro rolled his eyes at his captains' carefree attitude, but continued walking and keeping an eye for any potential dangers. They were on an unknown island and lowering their guard could be fatal. He glanced at the rear of the group. Hitomi was walking silently behind Robin, keeping her head down, but he could see that she was actually aware of her surroundings and ready to fight if necessary. He smirked. While she may not look like it, he was sure she could fight. She´s a survivor after all.

"Geh, what´s in the moat?" Luffy wondered out loud.

"WOOF! WOOF! GON!"

There in front of them, at the bottom of the stairs, stood a three-headed dog....fox?

"Wow! A Kerberos? We must be on the direct way to hell then"

"Aww, it´s cute!"

"He wanna fight?"

"Pretty bold"

"Ah, I wonder if it´s yummy?"

While all of them voiced out their thoughts, Hitomi just tilted her head as if analysing the creature before them.

The Kerberos on the other hand looked terrified. It quickly composed itself however and growled loudly, trying to scare them. It didn´t work.

"What did he get pumped all of a sudden?" Zoro questioned unsheathing his sword. "Well then, I´ll-"

"No wait!" Luffy cut in. "I wanna try to tame it!"

The swordsman rolled his eyes. "Idiot, you think you can be its owner?"

"Dog is dog" Luffy laughed and held his hand in front of him. "Give paw!"

The Kerberos blinked. Instead of giving the young captain his paw, however, he decided to bite his head off. The Strawhats signed, shaking their heads. Hitomi gave no reaction as she continued to stare at the dog-like creature with a blank face.

Luffy seemed unfazed and still tried to tame it. "Alright, now let go...Good boy"

Well, tame might be the wrong term. He pulled his fist back and punched the Kerberus to the ground. "YOU ASSHOLE!!......" Now satisfied, he smiled proudly. "Down!"

They sweatdropped."Luffy.....no" 

"In any case," Robin said "It has a bad wound. It´s strange that it is still alive."

True. The Kerberos was all stitched up and seriously injured. It shouldn´t even be able to move.

The cook pulled at one of the heads ears. "Above that, I wonder how this can be a living thing anyway with a fox mixed into it."

Ignoring everything his crew said, Luffy kicked the creature awake and sat on it´s back. It didn´t look happy. Luffy then glanced over his shoulder at Hitomi. "Shishishi...Wanna ride it too Hitomi?"

The girl in question was startled by the question. She stared at Luffy as if what he said was absurd. Which, to be honest, it was. Who would want to ride this thing? But that didn´t seem like the absurd part for her. More like being asked if she _wanted_ to do something was foreign.

Still, she shook her head "no" and stepped behind Robin, out of the captains line of sight. Luffy frowned. Zoro observed him through narrowed eyes. He knew Luffy was upset about something, but it´s not the time and place to ask. They had to find Nami and the others.

They continued the path that was set for them and soon reached a forest. Luffy was rambling about how fun this island is, while the shitty cook was calling for Nami. He didn´t particularly pay them attention. He was more focused on Robin and Hitomi.

"You´re not looking so good, Kerberos-san..."

"Don´t pity him, you´re hurting his pride"

Hitomi, while staying close to the archaeologist, studied the creature with open interest. Her electric blue eyes scanned every part of its body. She appeared to suspect something, but wasn´t completely sure about it. Going around it as far as she dared, her eyes narrowed.

But then, those same eyes, turned as big as saucers along with the rest of them. The reason? An old geezer-tree and a unicorn were casually having a drink in front of them.

Luffy being Luffy, caught the tree and proceeded to ask him to join the crew. Zoro and the cook tried to knock that idea out of him.

"AGAIN: DON´T GO AND MAKE RANDOM THINGS OUR NAKAMA!!"

"With a tanuki and a robot and the likes we´re random enough already!!!"

"HEY! I´m not a robot. I´m a cyborg, you fucking moron!!" Franky yelled at curly-eyebrow.

After a little back and forth they both agreed on Franky being a super pervert and that´s that. Hitomi looked greatly disturbed. Can´t blame her though.

"You know, that tree-man and the unicorn from earlier...." Robin began.

"What is it?"

"There are a lot of strange creatures in the forest, but they have some things in common." She pet the head of the Kerberos closest to her. "Bandages, stitches and numbers engraved to their bodies"

Looking more closely he noticed the number 82 on the side of it. "Numbers? They certainly do...You think somebody is controlling them?"

"Something like that"

".....They are dead" a small voice said.

"What do you mean, Hitomi-chan?" Robin asked surprised. She wasn´t expecting her to speak at all, but she was glad.

The teen cowered under their gaze, but still talked somewhat shyly. "....They smell like death. Most of the bodies are anatomically incorrect. I guess they were stitched together randomly...."

Robin hummed in acknowledgement, but Luffy caught their attention again.

"Hn? I can hear something!"

True enough, a moment or so later, the same ghost from before came out of the woods along with some friends. They were doing a weird dance chanting "negative" over and over again. Luffy thought it was cool and attempted to catch one with his net while Franky tried to burn another. The ghosts went through both of them and they became depressed.

"Totaly useless. This week I´m really useless," Franky muttered as his knees gave out. "I´ve got no confidence anymore...I wanna die!"

"WHY ARE YOU GETTING EMO?!" the cook yelled.

Luffy, in the same state, lowered himself beside Franky."If I get reborn...I wanna become a clam. This sucks...I wanna die!"

"NOW WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?? YOU´RE JUST THE SAME!!" the cook was getting frustrated.

"Maybe when you get touched by these ghosts your spirit gets really down?" Robin guessed.

"Hmph!" Zoro huffed. "You guys are pitiful, because you never pull yourselves together you´re letting some strange ghost or something make fun of you!!"

As soon as these words left his mouth, a ghost went through him. "I´m sorry I was ever born...."

"ENOUGH ALREADY!!" curly eyebrow yelled, then turned to Robin."Looks like you´re right Robin-chan. Not only do they have no real body, when you touch them your spirit gets crushed. As enemies, they would be difficult."

"Indeed," Robin agreed thoughtful. "...what a strange island!"

They decided to ignore them for now and continue walking. Robin and blondie took turn and sat on the Kerberos while the rest was on foot. Robin had offered Hitomi to sit beside her, but she refused. Probably because of the cook. Even though she wasn´t as terrified of him anymore, she still kept her distance.

The three that got affected by the ghosts were furious. Luffy and Franky were raging about how much they wanted to defeat the little bastards, while Zoro was more pissed about the cook making fun of him.

Hitomi was dead silent. Not talking, not laughing, not even looking at them. Almost like a doll. They really started to wonder just what the hell she experienced to make her like this. Robin shot her concerned glances every so often.

Finally out of the forest, they reached a graveyard. Like everything on this island, it was gloomy and foggy. That didn´t bother the rubber captain at all.

"Whoa, a vast graveyard! That´s some atmosphere!" he practically yelled, though quieter than usual. "Hey, let´s eat our bento here!"

"You moron," the cook sighed "The food would go bad! Let´s hurry up and move!"

That, of course, didn´t happen. 

From the grave next to them, a hand shot out of the earth. Luffy stared at it blankly, walked towards the zombie coming out and pushed him right back down. It was a comical sight and Zoro would laugh if the situation wasn´t serious.

"Like I´d go back!! ARE YOU AN IDIOT??!!" the zombie jumped out a second time, trying to scare them. Keyword: trying.

"An old man with a big wound?" Luffy gasped.

"IT´S A ZOMBIE, DON´T YOU SEE??!" Zoro, Franky and Sanji yelled frustrated. How stupid can he get?

After that, more zombies pooped out of the graves all around them. They were yelling about not underestimating them and were all-in-all a very lively bunch. Hitomi was watching them curiously. It was the first reaction after the geezer tree they got from her.

"Are zombies supposed to be this lively?" the idiot cook sweatdropped.

"WE´LL SHOW YOU THE DANGERS OF ZOMBIES!!" they screamed and stormed towards them.

"What did you say?" Luffy smirked. "If it´s danger, we can show you some too!"

The crew, Hitomi included, got ready to beat the living shit out of them. The zombies probably expected them to be scared, so they did not see the bomb attack flying towards them.

Zoro already knew the fighting style of his crew, so he focused more on Hitomi. She was doing pretty good, he noted with a smirk. She was targeting the weak points of the human body, making them stumble, loose balance and even mess up their attack completely. She had turned half-mouse. Her round ears, as well as her nose and whiskers, were constantly twitching and her tail functioned as a whip. She would occasionally transform into a small mouse, dodging the attack and turn human behind the enemy and knock them out. It looked like she was vanishing from view. Truly fascinating.

Needless to say, the fight didn´t last long.

"So, what are you doing here?" Luffy asked the zombies sitting in front of them. They had bumps forming on their heads.

"Well..." one began.

"Doing zombie stuff...being buried..." another continued.

"Rotting..." one added. Most agreed with him.

"Don´t fuck around!" Luffy started to sound annoyed.

"SORRY!!"

"Did a man with a long nose, an orange-haired woman and a reindeer that looks like a tanuki pass through here?" he asked.

"OH! Yeah, yes yes yes..."

"But we won't tell!! Our order is to not to give such information to anyone!"

Luffy cracked his knuckles. "Hhmm, you won´t tell anything?"

"Three persons passed through!" the zombie blurred out before Luffy could even take a step forwards.

"Those are my Nakama. You didn´t do something to them, right?"

Even though they were already dead, at that moment Luffy made them fear for their lives. The message that whoever touched his Nakama will experience hell, got through all of them. Hitomi stared at the captain, face unreadable.

The moment Luffy demanded the truth, the zombies started selling each other out. This only resulted in a second beating that left them buried face down in the earth.

"Looks like they are headed for the mansion over there." 

"I´m glad their safe. Dunno ´bout Brook though."

"That´s ok, I guess"

The crew walked out of the graveyard like nothing ever happened, until they were stopped by someone.

"Hello? Please wait a moment" said someone pleaded. "I´ve been watching you. You´re terribly strong! Would you listen to me for a second?"

"An old man with a big wound?" Luffy gasped.

"AGAIN, IT´S A ZOMBIE!!"

"Actually, I´m an old man with a big wound!" the old man said.

"SO EASY TO CONFUSE WITH!!"

Hitomi pressed her hands over her ears and shut her eyes close. After all that yelling today, Zoro wasn´t that surprised when she broke down, but he did shut his mouth immediately. Robin bent down and hugged her. She was whispering something to her and drawing circles on her back.

The old man didn´t notice and continued talking. They weren´t really listening, being too focused on Hitomi, but they understood that he wanted them to defeat the man who stole his shadow. The Shichibukai, Gekko Moria who´s former bounty succeeds even Luffy's.

###### 

_Wow, congratulations, you´re being a burden again_

Sometimes she wishes she could shut this voice up, it´s really annoying. But deep down she knows that it´s right. How could she not be a burden when she literally has to be carried around just because of a small panic attack? It wasn´t even that big of a deal.

Still. Without hesitation, she had responded to Robin-sans voice and transformed into a mouse. The older woman then picked her up and placed her on her shoulder, telling her to get comfy and relax. That´s exactly what she did and it felt nice for a bit, but now she´s just feeling guilty.

_It´s because you´re weak_

I know...

_They are just playing nice now. When they find out what you are, they will use you just like **them**_

I know...

A tiny tear landed on Robin-sans shoulder as the little grey mouse cuddled into her hair. It feels so good to be with them, why does it have to end? They gave off a sense of safety, something she hadn´t have in years. But- what if they want her to think like that? Make her feel save and later have fun watching her suffer? No. Luffy-kun isn´t like that! He is a kind person. He always was. But, what if-

The group reached the front gates of the mansion when it started raining. It was pouring hard and Hitomi had difficulties to stay where she was. A hand grew out of Robin-sans shoulder, acting as an umbrella.

"It started raining pretty much." Zoro-san unnecessarily pointed out. It wasn´t like they were soaking wet now or something.

"Shall we run to the mansion?" Franky-san asked. Good idea, but she would undoubtedly slip off. Meaning she had to run on her own.

"Wait a minute!" Luffy-kun suddenly said. He had been staring up the mansion for a while now, but Hitomi couldn´t see from her position. "On the back of the mansion, there´s...a mark? The fog is clearing a bit...What? A flag?"

The others looked up as well. Robin-san let her hop onto her hand for a better look. It wasn´t a flag, more like a sail. It had a Jolly Roger painted on and Hitomi guessed it belonged to Moria.

"That´s right!" the old man from before said. Really, he looked more like a zombie than some other ones she fought at the graveyard.

"YOU´RE STILL HERE??!"

The old man pretended not to hear them and continued talking. "It´s so huge that I can´t comprehend it. Thriller Bark has one village in it´s middle and is the largest pirate ship in the world!!" The Strawhats, plus Hitomi, were speechless. This was a ship? "You can see now, the back of the mansion is the mainmast. That place where Gekko Moria is!!"

Luffy stared at it as a smile crept on his face. It was a smile that promised a great adventure. "Okay! Shall we go then? INTO THE GHOST MANSION!!"

Robin-san placed her back on her shoulder. Why did she do that? Hitomi was fine now! So why would she carry her for no reason? Not that she didn´t enjoy it, but still strange.

_Maybe she genuinely likes you?_

Hitomi shook her tiny head and almost laughed. What a ridiculous thought.

When she snapped out of her thoughts, they were already inside. The room perhaps used to be clean, but it was really messy now. The long table was turned over, chairs were laying left and right and all-in-all it looked like there was a fight.

"Buhihihi!! You know the name of the master." A voice said from somewhere after Luffy called out for Moria. They were looking around until Hitomi tugged on Robin-sans hair and pointed at the wall above the fireplace. A pigs head hung there and seemed like the source. "You are quite courageous to enter this place!"

"Huh?" Luffy-kun just...stared. "There´s a pig growing out of the wall."

"LET US WELCOME OUR GUESTS!!!" it yelled and the paintings as well as the carpet sprung to life. They attacked them all at once, but they stayed calm.

"Hey, hey, are those zombies too?" Sanji-san asked annoyed.

"It´s not strange to find any kind of creature on this island." Robin-san replied as Sanji-sans foot connected with the face of one of the zombies. Hitomi was about to jump down to fight, but Robin-san held up her hand signalling her to stay put.

An ugly female painting-zombie with a gigantic mouth attacked the two of them. Robin-san crossed her arms and swiftly took care of her. "It´s unladylike to open your mouth so wide, even if you are quite pretty," she said, "But you spoiled it by coming out of the picture frame- TWIST!"

She´s so fucking cool!

The other zombies were also quickly taken care of and after Luffy-kun hit the bear with a bazooka, the room was silent.

"AH! That trio!" the pig yelled panicked, "They´re fast asleep in the bedroom. That´s good!! They´re safe!!"

"Impossible!" Franky-san said. And really. What were the chances that they were actually safe?

"IT´S THE TRUTH, BUHI! YOU GO AND CHECK!!" he was really panicking now, "Just go up those stairs inside!!"

"Hm? Hey, wait a minute..." Zoro-san interrupted "That curly brow cook is gone."

Hitomi´s eyes widen as she frantically scanned the room. This time she did jump down and ran around sniffing the air. No sign of him. It´s like he just vanished. Feeling down that the only other person she somewhat trusted was now gone, she trotted towards Robin-san. She picked her up and held her to her face.

"Can´t find him?" she asked. Her curling into a sad ball in her hand was answer enough and she placed the little mouse back on her shoulder where she hid in her hair.

"Huh? He was with us until a little while ago" Luffy-kun said, touching his hat as to make sure it was still there. "Where did that Sanji go?"

The paintings around them tried to hold back their laughter. Zoro-san noticed.

"They´ve been planning something for a long while." he said, but turned away with a sigh. "We´ve lost a dear man"

"Hey, you." Franky-san sweatdropped. Hitomi glared at the swordsman.

"Well, Sanji will be ok!" Luffy said full of confidence.

Robin-san looked at her captain. "My concern is this zombie mansion. It might be that we are racing against time with the rescue of those three." Ignoring the pigs rambling, she continued. "Anyway, we can only continue with our intuition. I don´t think those things will tell the truth even if we threaten them."

"So, let´s use that pig as a guide." Zoro-san suggested.

And that´s what they did.

The zombies tried to stop them by mentioning how dangerous Moria is. 

"You´re noisy with your rambling" Luffy said. "Go tell that Moria moron that...If anything happens to my Nakama, I´ll blow you off this island!!"

Hitomi had never seen him this serious. He was usually so carefree and reckless. _Nakama, huh?_

"Even if we leave Sanji for the time being, he won´t die. Let´s go!" he ordered.

Scooping up the pig, Franky-san and the rest followed their captain. The pig was constantly talking and laughing to himself. It was really annoying.

Hitomi got bored of just sitting around, so she jumped down changing back into human form. She scared the crap out of the pig, but didn´t even glance at him. She was about to walk to the back of the group when she noticed the swordsman missing. Her abrupt halt caught Luffy-kuns attention.

"This is weird...Zoro disappeared too!!" he said, but caught a glimpse of something shiny and ran off. What came back was a shining gold armour.

"What are you doing at a time like this?" Franky-san smacked him over the head.

Robin-san and Hitomi continued walking and let them talk about man´s romance all they want. They both didn´t understand it anyways. At the end of the corridor, they reached a hall- or more like an arena. The inside of the hall rather resembled the outside. The pig smirked evilly as a knight came flying down on Franky-san.

Luckily he dodged at the last second and came out unharmed. The knight was also a zombie. Hitomi began to doubt that there were actual people on this island, aside from Moria and the shadowless folk in the woods.

Franky-san tried to take revenge and hit him with a strong right, but the zombie wasn´t fazed and attacked again. They went back and forth for a bit, but in the end, Franky-san sent the corpse flying.

"He´s getting up again!" Luffy-kun yelped.

"He´s totally different from the zombies we met up until now!" Franky-san panted.

"YOU GET WHAT YOU DESERVE!!" the pig yelled from the corridor, "THAT´S THE FEARSOMENESS OF TRUE ZOMBIES!! EVEN IF THEY BREAK APART IT DOESN´T HURT OR EVEN TICKLE!! DURING THEIR LIFETIME EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE ARMED GENERAL ZOMBIES HAS MADE A NAME FOR THEMSELVES AS VICIOUS WARRIORS!!"

Hitomi rolled her eyes and focused her attention on the approaching zombies. The wall behind them fell and closed the opening they came from. The only other exit was on the other side of the room, so they had to fight their way through.

She licked her lips and took a fighting stance, round ears popping out of her head and tail swaying behind her. 

_Bring it on!_


	5. Aniki

_Bring it on my ass_

Hitomi bitterly thought, panting heavily and leaned against a wall. She was clutching the right side of her abdomen. A stab wound from a week ago reopened and the blue shirt Nami-san gave her was steadily turning purple. The general zombies were a hell lot more stronger than the ones at the graveyard and Hitomi barely made it to the outside.

"What about Luffy?" Robin-san asked, trying to help Hitomi but she refused to take off her shirt.

"Looks like he didn´t make it out yet," Franky-san panted as he glanced over his shoulder. "I can´t see him! He most likely got stuck into something because of that damn armour, that moron!"

Robin-san frowned, finally giving up and settled to just give her new bandages and turned around. She motioned Franky to do the same. "But if we wait here we´ll just get caught. The zombies are catching up and there´s no sign of Luffy."

Hitomi slowly pulled up the shirt to look at the damage. She took off the bandages. Not pretty. It took her a few minutes to stop the bleeding and clumsily stitch it back together. She could have done better, but she was exhausted and had already lost too much blood. She carefully stood up and wobbly walked towards Robin-san.

Robin-san scanned her head-to-toe. At the same time, what looked like a coffin travelled over their heads. Whatever, or whoever, was in there was certainly still alive. Kicking and screaming. It sounded almost like Luf-

_Oh you gotta be shitting me!_

"That voice just now..." Robin-san stared at the coffin in horror. "Luffy?"

"Eh? You mean to tell me strawhat was in there?" Franky-san questioned before running after it in a slight panic. Robin-san and Hitomi behind him. "HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? We gotta catch up, Nico Robin, lil sis!"

Hitomi almost tripped over thin air.

_Lil sis? What is he talking about?_

They all skitted to a halt when a giant monkey-spider-zombie blocked their way. "I won´t let you~"

"A giant spider..."

"No, it´s a monster spider!" Well, can´t argue with that one.

The thing in front of them watched the coffin disappear with a disgusting glee. "Ohh...another one"

"Damn it! That coffin went-" Franky-san yelled. Anger and frustration burned in his eyes. "What do you a-holes intend with him?!??"

"Don´t worry, whatever we´re gonna do with him, you will experience in person!" It chuckled, "But you should worry about yourselves. Before you, there´s me. Behind you are the armed warriors- And with that, your crew is annihilated!!"

For Robin-san and Franky-san, it looked like their entire world just collapsed. Hitomi was pissed.

"Don´t tell me they..."

The spider-zombie just laughed and started talking. Man...it sure liked to talk.

"Oh shut your ugly ass mouth," Hitomi said, interrupting the spiders monologue. It wasn´t so happy about it. The two Strawhats stared at her shocked as she stepped in front of them. "There is no way in hell you will get away with this. These guys are ridiculously strong and that Moria bastard will regret ever inviting them on this island. I´m not stupid, I know that you were the one who trapped their ship in the spiderweb AND that you have a way of tracking us. Probably the ghosts. You also have pretty big ears, I bet you can hear even the slightest sounds" With every word she said, the zombie flinched away. It was sweating bullets and looking everywhere but at her. Hitomi turned to the other two. "The general zombies are catching up, we have to do something."

Franky-san smirked. That right there, that´s his lil sis. "Of course, will you leave it to me?"

"With pleasure" Robin-san smiled and glanced at Hitomi. "Hitomi-chan, can you transform into a little mouse? It´ll be easier to escape."

Hitomi shook her head. "I´m sorry, I lost too much blood" She looked like a kicked puppy. All the confidence from a moment ago gone. "But-"

The cyborg and the archaeologist watched in awe as the 1,58m tall teen turned into a barely 100cm small child. She had big round eyes, a smooth babyface and her long silver hair reached the middle of her small back. Adding the mouse features and the bandages, they suddenly felt the urge to protect this adorable child with their lives. They snapped out of their trance when said child glared cutely at them.

"Hellooo? We are kind of in a dangerous situation, so if you don´t mind!"

Robin chuckled and picked her up, placing her on her back. Hitomi clung onto her like a baby koala, her tail wrapping itself around the woman's waist. She didn´t even notice, it was an instinctive reaction. The Strawhat member smiled fondly.

After Franky-san blew up the bridge and they barely made it on safe ground thanks to Robin-san, Hitomi noticed something falling from the sky. The closer it got, the more she could make out the form of a skeleton with an afro.

"What is that?"

"SOMEBODY FELL FROM THE SKY!!" the zombies yelled.

"Hey what is that that just came falling?" Franky asked, looking down like the rest of them.

"Would it be...?" Robin-san shook her head. "No Uhm although it looks a bit like..."

"No, it´s Brook-san" Mini-Hitomi confirmed. She was sitting cross-legged on the edge of the destroyed bridge and staring down with a blank face.

The giant spider got over the shock and recreated the bridge with spiderweb. "HEY! ALTHOUGH SOME WEIRDO BUTTED IN YOU CAN´T RUN AWAY FROM ME!! I CAN STILL MAKE AS MANY WEBS I WANT!!"

Hitomi didn´t move. Even when Robin-san slapped its eyes or when Franky-san used the pillar nunchaku or when they were all captured in sticky stuff by the spider-mice-zombies. She was more interested in what the skeleton was doing. After he emerged from the hole and got around the general zombies at the bottom, he used his light body to jump up to where they were. He stood back for a while, observing them, but when they got captured he made his move.

"Yohohoho, yohohoho~ Yohohoho, yohohoho~" he sung as he approached them. "Binkusu no sake wo, Todoke ni yuku yo~" Seemed like only Hitomi knew where he was. "Umikaze kimakase, namimakase~" All the others were looking around, trying to find the source. "Shio no mukou de, yuuhi mo sawagu~" He was getting close. "Sora nya wa wo kaku, tori no uta~" 

"WHO-WHO´S SINGING THAT SONG?"

His sword was unsheathed when he stopped in front of the Strawhats and Hitomi. "Yohoho! So you did enter the island after all?"

"How did you come from down-"

"I jumped, I´m quite light" he interrupted Robin-san before she could ask. "It can not be helped since you´re already here, so I might as well tell you everything I know about this place!"

Hitomi continued to stare at the spider as if expecting something to happen. When the skeleton turned back to the rambling zombie and walked past it, the stare intensified. Brook-san moved too fast for the naked eye to see, but Hitomi saw. She saw how the skeleton used something and then cut the monkey-spider-thing. A simple cut shouldn´t have worked, since it´s...well... _a fricking zombie_ , but it did. A black substance came out of its mouth.

"What the heck is that?!" Franky-san wondered wide-eyed.

Brook-san hummed. "This is the soul of a zombie-"

"SOUL? YOU CAN CLEARLY SEE IT COMING OUT!"

Hitomi winced and Franky shut his mouth immediately.

"Well, please return to your master!" Brook-san called after the ´soul´ as it flew away into the night sky.

The spider-mice didn´t take the fact that their boss was just killed in front of them well. What a surprise.

"You really did defeat him! What did you do?" Franky-san asked. He was still glued to the ground. It looked uncomfortable.

"I purified him."

"Ohhh, so it was salt that you gave him?" Hitomi questioned, stretching her head a little to look at him. There was pure curiosity and innocence in those eyes, very unlike the emotionless ones the musician saw on the ship.

"Yes, ah and the spiderweb is strong against power, but weak against fire." He said.

Franky-san breathed fire onto the web restaining him. "That´s true. It loosens up!" He then did the same for Robin-san, but when he got to Hitomi, the child shut her eyes close. She was trembling ever so slightly.

"...be careful," she said in a small terrified voice. She had some awfully bad experiences with fire.

Even though she couldn´t see it, Franky's face softened. "Of course," He used extremely low heat, just enough to free her.

Brook was watching the exchange with a strange feeling in his chest. It was heartwarming and rare to see a crew care for each other that much. It reminded him of his old crew and his Nakama that was waiting for him.

Franky-san turned back to Brook-san. "Luffy and the others were kidnapped! And you seem to know a hell lot about this island"

"Yes, where do I start..." the skeleton put his sword down."If they have been caught already, there´s a high chance that we´re too late."

Hitomi frowned. Too late for what?

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU DAMN SKELETON?!"

"Please don´t shout so much! My ears will start ringing!" He stressed at Franky-san. "But wait! I´m a skeleton, so I don´t have ears! Yohohoho, skull joke!"

Franky was about to blast him back to the underworld, but he heard a chuckle. With disbelief, he stared at Hitomi. She actually laughed!

Hitomi on her part found the skeleton really funny. Even though he was a pervert.

"Anyways, please listen without fooling around!"

Franky-san raised his arm again, ready to fire. Hitomi rolled her eyes, placed a hand over the weapon and lowered it. She had changed back to normal when he freed her. "...let him talk"

Franky-san (and Robin) was so baffled by the small action, he shut up. To be honest with herself, Hitomi too was surprised. If she did it out of impulse or because deep down she knew he was trustworthy, she´ll never know.

"Like I said before," Brook-san continued "There was a time when the rudder of my ship didn´t work and I drifted all alone in the sea for dozens of years...." He turned away so they couldn´t see his face. "As much as I wanted to escape this devil sea, I could do nothing but drift with the tides. I was invited to this island too, just like you ladies and gentlemen! I, who wanted to get out of the Florian Triangle at any cost, went around the island to see if they had parts to fix my broken rudder. But all I found was zombies! In the end, I was caught and brought to that building...What I saw inside was a struggling dancer who had been caught before me and a patched corpse they call "Mario". When I looked up, a big, scary man appeared! He pulled the man´s shadow of the floor and cut it off..."

"HE CUT OFF HIS SHADOW??"

"I would have doubted my own eyes too...but...I DON´T HAVE EYES!! YOHOHOHO!"

"You can hit him now." Robin-san and Hitomi told Franky-san in unison.

"I soon followed the same fate but," the skeleton carried on, lying on the floor, a bulge forming. "The person whose shadow was taken fell and the cut-off shadow was pushed into the motionless Mario. And then, for some reason, the supposed corpse started dancing all of a sudden!!"

"What do you mean?"

"A shadow is another soul. It follows a person wherever it goes. Naturally, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, it´s a soul that is supposed to keep following you and never detach itself from you..."

Hitomi tilted her head. What kind of sick person would go as far as to steal other peoples shadows just to make an army of moving corpses? But that action shot a wave of dizziness through her and she struggled to stay standing. Luckily the others didn´t notice. 

"The big man who can take shadows and make them follow him is Shichibukai, Gekko Moria!! He has eaten the Kage-Kage no mi!" Brook-san announced.

"A devil fruit, huh?"

"Yes, if he ca-"

At this point, Hitomi could barely stand. Brook and the others started to blur and the next thing she knew, her legs completely gave up. Instead of crashing onto the floor, however, she vaguely registered Franky-san catching her. She really did lose too much blood after all.

A weak "Chopper" was all she managed to say before everything went black.

"Franky..." 

"!! What!!? I´m not crying, you idiot!!" he practically wailed "Don´t look this way!!"

The two of them just separated from Brook and were currently running down some stairs. Franky was carrying the still unconscious Hitomi. They needed to go back to the others and find Chopper as soon as possible. Lil sis was injured beforehand and the fight with the general zombies did no good. He barely managed to catch her when she collapsed and he was blaming himself for not noticing sooner that something was up. Thinking back, she was pretty unsteady after they escaped the arena. He felt like slapping himself for failing his little sister, but that would cause her to slip off his back.

"Why did you ask him that sort of question?"

Oh, she was talking about Brook. He didn´t tell, but he was crying for two reasons right now and one of them was lying on his back.

"Shu up! It´s who I am...Haa...Let´s get going!" He sobbed aggressively. "Haa...I love that skeleton dammit!! There isn´t a guy that good anywhere!! DAMMIT!" He really should stop crying now, but he can´t.

"Fufu...Indeed"

There was a roar that shook the entire island. "MEAT!!"

"Meat?" Robin wondered out loud.

"Hey, up there!" He gestured towards the end of the staircase. "Looks like the armoured zombies are cornering someone"

He then realised that the someone was Usopp and Chopper. He saw red. Nobody touches his little brothers! He gently leaned Hitomi against the railing, out of harms range and ran into the mess. He put salt as ammo and shot it into the mouth of the zombie that was chocking Usopp. He then grabbed another one and shoved the substance down its throat.

"Get your rotten hands off of my friends" he growled. "They´re my little brothers!"

"BIG BROOOO!! ROBIN!!!" the two of them cried in relief.

"So we didn´t get here in time, huh," Franky said with a hint of disappointment. "There is one missing!" He felt like slapping himself again. He failed to protect his crew yet again.

"Usopp, Chopper, are you injured?" Robin asked, but the two just cried again.

"In any case, we need to keep moving," he said as he walked back to Hitomi.

"AH, Hitomi! What happened to her!!" Chopper stressed running up to her. He looked close to tears when he saw her injuries.

"We were fighting those armed zombies. I think some old injuries reopened." Franky said, close to tears himself. "It´s my fault, I couldn't protect her"

"...it´s not...your fault...Franky...san..." a weak voice said. 

All of their heads snapped towards Hitomi. She had opened her eyes and was staring intensely at Franky. A barely visible smile tugged her lips, but it was there.

"Don´t talk!" Chopper ordered.

But she kept talking. "...I´m just...too weak...and useless-" She coughed out blood. "...don´t be...sorry...ani...ki" Then, she blacked out again.

Franky froze. The Strawhats looked at each other wide-eyed.

"Did she just..."

"She did..."

They looked at Franky. He was still in a state of shock, trying to understand what just happened. She called him aniki. She called him her aniki! HITOMI CALLED HIM ANIKI!!

"Franky..."

"I AM NOT CRYING DAMMIT!!" Total lie. He was crying like a baby, but they couldn´t blame him.

"We should go to the ship for now," Robin said. "Chopper can treat her there."

"You´re right" Chopper nodded and scooped the girl up.

"Let´s go!"

And so, they kept running. Usopp informed them about the situation. Apparently those stairs lead directly to the ship and Luffy was already transported there. The three of them had been following the zombies when Nami was abducted by the weird invisible man. But she will be alright. None of them will kick the bucket any time soon if Franky can prevent it.

"By the way," he said "What was that roar just now? We heard it and took off."

Usopp looked away. "That was...Luffy´s voice. We´ll tell you everything we saw! But the situation has gotten crazy!"

Yeah no kidding. Just as they got outside, another roar combined with a loud breaking noise shook the island again.

"That noise just now? Luffy´s zombie is probably breaking out and throwing a huge rampage, I bet" Usopp said.

"Let´s hurry!"

They ran faster and soon reached the shore.

"It´s the Sunny!!"

"But, everything is messed up!"

They got on the ship and all they saw was a mess. Empty barrels, chests and whatnot were lying around the deck. The doors were all open and footprints decorated the lawn. There were many pairs, so he guessed a lot of zombies explored their ship. They weren´t exactly gentle either.

"More importantly, where is our main crew?"

"THEY´RE HERE!" Usopp yelled from the kitchen.

Chopper had already checked the medic room and all his supplies were gone. He brought the unconscious Hitomi with them to the kitchen. He laid her on the couch and began checking her. Even though she told Franky that it wasn´t his fault, he couldn´t help but feel guilty. What she said still echoed in his head.

_I´m just too weak and useless_

Useless. Why would she think that?

"The zombies seem to have completely decorated them, free of charge" He heard someone say. Luffy, Zoro and Sanji looked utterly ridiculous.

"OI WAKE UP YOU JERKS! IT´S NOT THE TIME TO BE SLEEPING!!" He yelled as he hit all three of them on the head. No matter how many times though, they refused to wake up. Usopp took the last resort.

"A BEAUTIFUL LADY SWORDSMAN JUST ARRIVED WITH A TON OF MEAT!!"

They woke up.

"Beauty?"

"Meat?

"Swordsman?"

"They´re hopeless!" Chopper gasped as he turned around to look at them. He just finished changing bandages and inspecting the reopened wound.

"You bastard, my shadow!!" Luffy jumped to his feet and tried to punch someone.

"Idiot, calm down! Moria isn´t here!" Franky yelled as he held his captain back.

"Hm? We´re back on the Sunny?" Zoro mumbled.

"THE SUNNY?! WHY ARE WE BACK?"

"No, it´s not a dream" the swordsman ignored the screaming and looked at his feet. "My shadow is gone!"

"OI EMERGENCY! ALL THE FOOD IS GONE!!" Luffy came back from the storage room with a big chunk of cheese.

"Not all food supply is missing," Sanji said, lighting a new cigarette. "By the way, I can´t see Nami-san and Hitomi-chan."

"Hitomi is here." Chopper said, packing his supplies back in his bag.

The three previous unconscious ones gathered around the couch with concerned faces. Luffy´s eyes were hidden under the brim of his hat, his mouth a thin line.

"What happened?"

"The zombies happened. She was in no condition whatsoever to fight and yet..." Chopper trailed off looking at Hitomi´s peaceful face.

"We´ll let her rest for now," Robin took over. "More importantly, we have Nakama to rescue"

# ...

"KIDNAPPED?! WHO IS HE AND WHERE IS HE AT??! I´LL GO GET HER BACK RIGHT NOW!!" Sanji just found out about Nami.

"Alright," Usopp continued "There are two things we can´t afford not to get back-"

"Food, Nami!" Was the immediate response from Luffy. "And our shadows, right? That´s three."

"Uhh.. one of them doesn´t belong in the ranking...Right now let´s focus on Nami and the shadows, because Nami is about to get married and Luffy´s giant zombie will probably kill us all!"

Sanji was on fire. Literally. How is he even alive? "MARRIAGE?! YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!"

"He must be really brave to want to marry her!" Luffy said "And I´m a giant?! There is a zombie like that?"

"You said you saw a weird penguin? So that means we know who Luffy´s and the cook´s zombies are" Zoro concluded.

"You guys didn´t know?" Franky asked surprised, ignoring the whining Usopp and Chopper. They were on this island for quite a while now and everyone somehow found out what´s up.

"Hm? Okay, so if the zombies look nothing like the actual person then I think I saw Zoro´s" Luffy remembered.

"Well, whatever it is, we just have to track the three zombies down and throw salt into their mouth. The shadows will return, right?" Zoro said and turned to Franky. "But you sure did well to find this weakness."

Franky sighed. "The one who told us about the salt and to get back to the Sunny was that skeleton guy!"

Luffy´s eyes lit up. "EHH!! YOU MET BROOK?"

"We met...When we did I asked him a pretty rude question" he said, suddenly really tired. The whole thing with lil sis and this island drained him. He needs some cola. "From the moment you wanted to make that our Nakama, I refused to acknowledge him. But- even though his a frail skeleton, the more I talked to him...He had bones, not just as a skeleton. HE´S A MAN!"

The Strawhats jumped at the sudden outburst. Hitomi shifted a little but remained unconscious.

"I was really rude to him. I asked what he was thinking about doing after he got his shadow back. I told him that no one would want to be friends with a skeleton, he would just be lonely again! I know I would´ve given up on life, but he didn´t. All because of a promise he made with his Nakama! Long ago when they entered the Grand Line they left one member at the Twin Capes. They told him to wait there for them, until they dominated this ocean and came back from the other side of Reverse Mountain And since the entire crew died but him, as to not break the promise he lived those 50 years all alone. He knows that there might be a chance that he isn´t waiting anymore, but just in case, he wants to go back to him. To Laboon."

Luffy tilted his head. "Laboon?"

Some of the others looked surprised as well. Franky was confused.

"It´s him!"

"Him?"

"Yeah" Luffy smiled. "We know him!"

"It was at the entrance of the Grand Line" Sanji explained. "This shitty big whale was there, ramming his head against the Red Line trying to breakthrough. He kept waiting for the pirates that promised 50 years ago that they will absolutely come back...After a while, he heard that the pirates had run away and accepting that, he kept trying to break back through. Luffy somehow managed to convince him to stop acting so suicidal. He´s still alive right now, waiting for his Nakama!!"

"...This is unbelievable..." Usopp breathed astound. "They kept their promise together for over 50 years! To think that one of the Nakama Laboon was waiting for was Brook!!"

Franky was moved to tears. What a beautiful story! "WHAAA! DAMMIT!! I LOVE THAT SKELETON AND THAT WHALE"

"SHUT UP!!" They yelled at him.

Luffy was even more pumped up to make him their Nakama. Only that now, no one had any objections. Not to mention, Hitomi also liked that guy.

"Zoro? Where are you going?"

The swordsman had already left the ship. "I´m gonna land for a bit. The number of shadows we have to get back just went up one, didn´t it?"

"Shishishishi!" Luffy´s grin split his face in half. "YOSHAA! PREPARE FOR COUNTERATTACK! WE´RE GONNA BLOW THRILLER BARK TO THE GROUND!!"

They split up. Sanji and Usopp would go after Nami, Franky and Zoro after Brook and the rest after Moria so Luffy can kick his ass. They all got a bag of salt from Usopp.

"But wait! What about Hitomi?" Chopper asked. "We can´t just leave her on the ship all alone!"

"Hm...you´re right."

"What if Usopp and Franky set up some traps? We can leave a note to her if she wakes up before we get back." Luffy´s stupid idea was a pretty good one.

The two of them set several traps, just to make sure. They wrote everything down for Hitomi so that she doesn´t accidentally trigger one of them. The note was left in her hand.

And so, the Strawhats were ready to beat these peoples asses.


	6. Order is order...

_Hitomi tried to squeeze through the panicked people. There were so many and they were all running around! Just what´s going on? Foosha village is always so peaceful, why is everyone running?_

_The burn on her neck itched painfully. She was trying really hard not to scratch it. Makino-san told her not to! Her body was still exhausted from after the fire, but she clutched her treasured necklace, afraid to lose it in the crowd._

_She roughly remembered where the house she was staying at was, so she tried to walk towards the general direction. She had been in this village for about a month now, but she rarely went outside. Too afraid of someone finding and killing her like they did with her parents. She only hoped the boys weren´t caught in the fire. She sure as hell isn´t ever going back to that place again. The people are rotten beyond repair, but this village is different. One can hardly believe it belongs to **that** kingdom._

_Somebody ran her over and she landed on her butt. She winced but otherwise no reaction. Looking around she saw that she was at the shore. The total opposite part of town from her house. A shadow loomed over her._

_"Well, will you look at that," the shadow of a man said "What a pretty little thing!"_

_Hitomi stared at the massive man in front of her in fear as he gently touched her hair. He was smelly, fat and hairy. He was a pirate. And by what she understood about the situation, the captain of the crew that was attacking the village._

_"Hey captain! Can we keep her? I´m sure she´ll be beautiful when she grows up!" One of the men said, a lustful smile, as Hitomi learned years later, creeping on his face._

_The captain laughed. The awful scent of alcohol hit her in the face. "Tell me girlie, can you cook?"_

_Terrified of what they may do to her, she nodded._

_"Can you clean?"_

_She nodded again. The neckless was cutting into the flesh of her hand, her knuckles white._

_"Can you do the dishes? Laundry?"_

_Again. What were those questions? This was getting weird._

_The pirate laughed. He then grabbed her by the hair and held her up for his crew to see. "Guys! I found us a lovely new Nakama. She is small now, but when she grows up she´ll be the most beautiful woman out there and we will have her for our own!"_

_"HITOMI-CHAN!" Someone suddenly yelled. It was Makino-san and she was crying. Why is she crying?_

_"Who are you?" The pirate captain asked._

_"LET HER GO! SHE´S JUST A KID!!"_

_"Yeah, not happening. Are you her mother? No? Well, she´s joining us. Like it or not!" He laughed._

_I´m what? No, no, no, NO! I promised them to live on! To live a free life! I cannot be taken by them!!_

_With a sudden wave of courage and/or panic, Hitomi kicked the pirate in the nuts and made a run for it as he dropped her. Makino was shocked but didn´t hesitate to embrace her in her arms when she came running to her. The pirate cried in rage and ordered his men to catch the brat and punish her._

_Hitomi looked at the captain. The pure hot rage in his eyes. His angered subordinates. Makino-san´s and the villagers wide eyes filled with terror. It was that moment where she that knew she messed up badly and needed to fix it. If she didn´t play along, they will kill her and Makino-san and all the nice people in this village. With tears in her eyes, she stared at Makino-san and nodded to herself. She reached for her neck._

_"Hitomi-chan?" The woman eyes widen when the girl placed a golden neckless in her hand. "But this...is your treasure isn´t it? Why are you giving this to me?"_

_"I trust you! Can you keep it save for me?" The six-years-old Hitomi asked crying. "I will definitely come back to get it, I promise! Thanks for everything Makino-san!"_

_Before Makino had any time to register what happened, the little girl hugged her tight and ran to the pirates..._

###### 

Hitomi jerked up, her whole body trembling from her rapid breathing.

The girl frantically looked around without actually seeing anything, as pain and sorrow gripped her features. Her eyes fell on the door. _An exit!_ She tried to rush towards it, but her body screamed in protest. She felt something crunch in her left hand. A loud thud followed by a scream echoed from outside. After what felt like years, she finally calmed down a bit.

Just a dream.

Hitomi glanced around, relief washing over every part of her fogged mind. She´s on the Thousand Sunny. Luffy-kuns ship. Not that disgusting man´s and neither **that** place. He´s safe, he survived the fire. _She´s_ safe. At least for now.

She looked at the note in her hand. It was from Franky-san. She opened it, another scream in the distance breaking the silence in the room.

"To: Little sis Hitomi,

If you are reading this alone, we´re currently kicking some zombie ass. Don´t worry, we´ll be back before breakfast! We are sorry for leaving you alone on the ship like that, but Nami is about to get married to a weirdo and the number of shadows we have to get back just went up one. We need all the manpower we got! But you are not allowed to fight under any condition! Choppers order! If you fight anymore in your state, you might die! We don't want that, so don´t go dying on us you hear?!

Love, Franky

P.S. Usopp and I set up some traps to make sure no one can get to you! Here´s the list so you don´t accidentally trigger one:-"

'Some' was an understatement. The list went on four more pages, backside included.

_You´re so useless_

Oh joy. The voice is back.

_You know exactly how much of a burden you are! You have been with them for barely five days and all you do is faint like some kind of baby! They have to keep wasting medical supplies for a piece of trash like you._

Hitomi´s eyes darkened. She stuffed the note into her pocket and strolled towards the back door, ignoring her body´s protest. Once she touched the handle she morphed into her chibi form. She was still too tired to go full mouse. Skillfully avoiding the numerous traps she reached the front deck. A bunch of zombies were trying to load the ship, but kept triggering the traps and sent flying back to the shore. 

_So that was the noise I heard before!_

She was about to creep around the corner and jump off, when a big man showed up. She froze mid-step and stared at him. It was Kuma! Didn´t he like, work with the revolutionaries? But she´s not supposed to know that. She had just overheard a couple of them talking about it. Right now, Kuma is the ruthless Shichibukai.

He asked where he could find Moria.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU´RE DOING WITH THE TREASURE AND THE SUNNY?!" A familiar voice yelled. Nami-san was here and wearing...a wedding dress?

Hitomi nervously watched the exchange between the Strawhat member and the pink-haired girl, whom she assumed belonged to Morias crew. They didn´t seem to notice Kuma approaching them and sending some zombies in his way flying. She gulped and hid further behind the corner.

"PERONA-SAMA! PLEASE RUN AWAY!!" The zombies yelled when Kuma was right behind the pink-haired girl.

Irritated she turned around. "Who the hell are you?!"

"We don't know! But he´s an enemy! He just destroyed some of our brothers! He´s not ordinary, please run away!! He´s dangerous!!"

Perona was gawking at the pirate in horror."You...of course he´s not ordinary! He´s one of the Shichibukai! The "Tyrant" Bartholomew Kuma!!"

Nami-san was staring at him the same way as Perona while the zombies freaked out. "This can´t be..."

"Are you one of Morias men?" He asked the ghost-girl.

"Moria-sama...NO...Gekko Moria and I have no connection!" She panicked. "I was about to flee this island!!"

_On Luffy´s ship!_

"If you were to go on a vacation, where would you like to go?" Kuma asked out of the blue.

"What are you doing asking about..?" She gaped at him, but answered nonetheless. "A vacation, huh? Well, somewhere dark...damp...near an old castle, swimming in malice. I like to pass time singing cursed songs."

"SHE ANSWERED!!" "THAT´S PERONA-SAMA FOR YOU!"

She snapped out of it and tried to fight him off. What exactly she was thinking, we´ll never know. Her little ghosts didn´t even reach him and with a single touch of his palm, she was gone. Just like the zombies from before. That power sent shivers down Hitomi´s spine.

The zombies freaked out and it looked like they were about to fight, but they ran away in the end. In a blink of an eye, Kuma was beside Nami-san. Hitomi couldn´t hear what they were saying, but Nami-san was terrified and confused when he left. She then quickly ran down and to the ship.

Seeing as the coast was clear, Hitomi stepped out of her hiding spot. Her eyes widen a fraction when Nami-san got on deck and triggered a trap set by Usopp-san. Despite her pain, she jumped into action, pushing the thief out of the axes way. They were both on the ground, watching the axe swing back and forth. Hitomi released a breath she didn´t know she was holding when Nami sprang back to life.

"Hitomi-chan!!" The older girl hugged her tightly. She stiffened and wiggled out of it. Nami-san looked apologetic. Why? It´s not her fault that she´s so weird! "How did you know there was a trap? Why was there a trap in the first place? And..why are you so small?"

Hitomi didn´t say anything and just gave her the letter. Nami-san read it through and nodded, giving it back to her.

"Ok, let´s go change for now." Hitomi tilted her head. "I don´t know if you noticed, but the blue shirt I gave you is purple now," she said, a hint of concern lacing her voice.

Hitomi glanced at the shirt, then back at Nami-san who was now dragging her to the girls' room, carefully avoiding traps. "...I don´t have clothes..."

Nami-san kept walking without looking at her. "I know. We will buy you some on the next island. For now you can wear mine or Robin´s, I´m sure she won´t mind!"

As soon as they stepped inside, Nami-san plundered the closet. Only to find it empty. She screamed in frustration.

"...I think the zombies from before were carrying stuff on board," Hitomi said quietly but Nami-san heard her. "...one of the boxes must have clothes in them..."

"Great! Let´s not lose any more time!" And- she was being dragged around again.

One of the boxes did indeed have clothes, just not their´s. They were Peronas, which makes sense since she wanted to take the ship and escape. They found something presentable to wear and Nami-san was about to leave-

"Wait!" Hitomi yelled out, surprising both of them. "I wanna come with you!"

Nami-san frowned. "But Chopper-"

"I don´t care! I can´t just sit here and do nothing!" She was close to tears.

Nami-san eyed her sceptical, but gave in. "Fine. But you got to promise to stay out of the fight! Chopper is never wrong about this stuff and you could really die!"

Hitomi nodded, then muttered under her breath, "...not like I have anything to live for..."

She ran after Nami-san, but didn´t notice her sad expression. They reached the battlefield just as the giant zombie Oars was about to crush Franky-san. Hitomi gasped and was ready to run, but was pushed behind Nami-san. The Strawhat took out her weapon and created thunderclouds right above the monster.

"THUNDERBOLT TEMPO!"

The lightning hit it head-on and brought it to its knees. The other Strawhats recognised the attack and looked around for their Nakama. Sanji-san found them.

"NAMI-SAAN! HITOMI-CHAN!! I'M SO GLAD YOU´RE OK!!"

"Don´t yell! He´s going to notice us!!" The moment the orange-haired girl said that, Oars glanced at them. Hitomi turned mouse out of instinct, not even bothering to remember her injuries. Survival comes first.

"GOMU GOMU..."

"Wait! Don´t tell me´s going to stretch?!" Nami-san yelled panicked, scooping Hitomi into her hand.

"PISTOL!!"

The arm did indeed stretch and Nami-san was barely able to jump off the platform. Luckily Robin-san was able to catch them before they hit the ground. Just as they were about to come to terms with the fact that this gigantic monster has Luffy's shadow AND can stretch like him, he struck again.

"GOMU GOMU NO WHIP!!"

The Strawhats and Hitomi somehow dodged that too.

"Dammit! What´s going on?! His power level just went up miles!!"

"Why can his body stretch like he ate a devil fruit?? What did you do, Moria?!!?"

"Kishishishi! Yes, this is the nightmare I present you!" Moria laughed. Hitomi narrowed her eyes and ran towards Oars. She was so small, neither Moria nor the Strawhats noticed. "The power of the Kage Kage no Mi! Isn´t it wonderful?!" 

While Moria fully explained the concept of the form of the shadow, the little grey mouse that was Hitomi had reached the feet of the zombie. She climbed it up in circles, stopping on the right shoulder. When Oars suddenly turned into a ball, she squeaked and had to hold on tight. Zoro took note of her and clicked his tongue in worry. As its body turned back to normal, Hitomi continued her search. Her plan was to examine the whole body and find any weak points. She wanted to be helpful. She _had_ to. She didn´t want them to hate her for being a nuisance.

The moment she saw the electrified Brook coming flying towards them she ran as far away from the shoulder as possible. It was severely damaged and shouldn´t be able to function, but this a zombie. It doesn´t feel any pain. She found shelter in the belly of the monster where Moria was at. She managed to go unnoticed and sit in the corner of the opening, out of Zoro-sans cutting range.

It buckled a lot when zombie-Luffy tried to step on Brook-san and when Usopp fired at him. Hitomi caught Robin-sans eye and nodded. She knew what the woman wanted to do. So when arms appeared around Morias neck and held him tightly, she stepped on it and bit him. As hard as she could with razor-sharp teeth. She did that multiple times and Moria howled in pain.

Things were not going well. While Robin-sans and Hitomi´s distraction bought them some time and injured Moria even a little bit, he didn´t gain that title for nothing. He had torn Hitomi off of him and switched places with his shadow behind Robin-san. He then cut off hers, making her unconscious. Zoro-san caught the mouse before she hit the ground, preventing further damage.

"I thought the letter said no fighting." He grunted, placing her back down as she turned chibi.

"Technically I wasn´t fighting. I was just taking a closer look!" She pouted, crossing her arms and puffing her cheeks.

Zoro was startled by her behaviour, as he had never seen her act like that before. He laughed. "Ok, you win. But if I see you near that monster again..."

"Yeah ok, but hear me out-"

...

"Ok, I´ll make sure to pass it on" Zoro-san nodded. He locked eyes with her. Silver orbs piercing into her very soul. When he spoke, his voice was dead serious. "But you´ll have to leave-No, you´ve done enough. You can´t fight any more in your condition. It´s an _order_!"

As soon as that last word left his mouth, Hitomi numbed. Her head was empty. Not a single protest crossing her mind. An order is an order. Absolut, with no room to question. Questioning, or worse, _ignoring_ orders is a very stupid thing to do. Especially in _**that**_ place.

So, Hitomi wordlessly turned her back on the dumbfounded swordsman and left the battlefield. She stopped walking at the edge of the plaza, staring blankly at the scene of Oars fighting the Strawhats. As promised, Zoro-san told the others about what she found. Chopper looked at her with a mix of concern and pride. No reaction from her though.

Chopper, with the help of Sanji-san, attacked the giant after eating a weird ball. He changed form.

"ROSEO SHOOT!"

Oars took quite some damage, but that didn´t stop him from using Gatling Gun on both the cook and the doctor. Hitomi didn´t even flinch to help them. Order is order.

Soon, four Strawhats and Brook-san were out of the game.

Hitomi couldn´t make out what the rest was saying, but the next moment Zoro-san and Usopp-san gave it another shot. Zoro-sans attack resulted in Oars´arm bleeding like hell from several spots. But that was just the distraction. As the zombie turned away, Usopp-san took the bag of salt Brook-san brought and positioned it on the giant slingshot. When it turned back around, the salt slid down its throat.

The expected outcome was Oars to be purified, but Moria´s shadow was able to catch it. The shadow threw the salt back at Usopp-san. The bag opened and the salt leaked onto the ground. Their last hope now gone.

Oars then stomped on both Nami-san and Usopp-san. But Hitomi wasn´t worried. She saw Luffy, though a weird looking one, coming and snatching them from under its feet. He transferred his Nakama on higher ground.

"Oi Big Guy!!" He yelled, cold fury burning in his eyes. "What do you think you are stomping on? There isn´t anything under your feet you know?!"

Oars immediately stopped and gaped at him confused. "Who the hell are you?"

"I´m Monkey D Luffy!"

And just like that, the battle of Luffy vs Luffy was on. A truly terrifying battle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I´m so sorry this chapter came late but I had some family problems and didn´t have time to write. I´ll try to find more time! In any case, I hope you liked this chapter and this story in general.


	7. Dead or still alive?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I have proven that it´s physically impossible for me to post every Monday, I´ll change the day! Yay! So Tuesday or Wednesday it is!
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

It was dawn.

The sun was rising. Splashes of violet, red and orange painted the morning sky. It was breathtaking. Thriller Bark had just fallen by the hands of the Strawhat pirate crew. Moria lay unconscious on the ground, having just spewed out all one thousand shadows. Hitomi could only gape at the pure display of will and power Luffy just provided, feeling strangely at ease. 

A few minutes ago though, her heart stopped beating. The sun had finally touched the shadowless Strawhats and they were beginning to disappear. Hitomi had only felt this much despair when her parents died for her ten years ago. She had hoped to never have to go through that again, so she kept her distance to everyone. She despises pirates! All they do is steal and kill and take advantage of the weak and more and more and more!-She hadn´t even noticed up until that moment how much this crew grew on her. They fished her out of the water and took her in. Her, a complete stranger and went as far as to call her Lil sis. She was even willing to go _against an order_ to save them. While the thought alone was unimaginable, she knew she couldn't have done anything if she wanted to.

Hitomi couldn´t take it anymore. The dam broke and the tears she had been holding back rolled freely down her cheeks. She ran.

"Looks like I´m still alive!"

"I thought I was going to heaven for a second!"

"That´s ok! If I´m with you Robin-chan I´ll gladly go to heaven!!"

Usopp was about to yell at them, but noticed a figure approaching fast. Before he had time to brace himself, Hitomi flung herself onto Robin. What baffled him and the others wasn´t the action, but the fact that she was crying onto the woman's shoulder.

"Hitomi-chan?" The archaeologist asked softly.

"Don´t...ever do...something like that..ever again!!" The girl sobbed. "I thought you-you were dead!!"

The tension slipped away as they all relaxed. Exhausted but satisfied, they let themselves sit down and take a breath. Hitomi was still crying, much calmer than before, but clutching onto Robin like a lifeline. The last day was utterly overdemanding, so they enjoyed this moment of peace. The pirates from the woods were celebrating in the distance. Chopper was already working on their injuries.

"Didn´t Luffy shrink before?" Zoro asked, observing his sleeping captain. At least he hoped he was just sleeping.

"When he uses Gear Third, he says he shrinks as a side-effect" Chopper answered as he checked over the rubber man.

"Don´t you think Luffy´s new fighting style is too harmful for his body?" Usopp frowned. "If there are stronger enemies ahead, that means he´s going to keep doing this...I´m worried!"

A long silence followed. They all took in and thought about that. Hitomi looked at each one of them. They cared about their captain just as much as he cared about them. They may fight a lot, but in the end, they would die for one another. Just like a family. She looked down and debated on whenever or not to tell them. Tell them about all those powerful people. Dangerous people that could destroy them using just their pinky. Tell them about those _**gods**_ that are free to do whatever they want. But she decided against it. At least for now. They just finished their battle, she couldn´t do that to them.

The people of this island came to them and thanked the crew for saving their sorry asses. Hitomi observed them quietly with a schooled blank face. While she was thankful for them helping, what they did to Luffy could have killed him. Stuffing a hundred shadows into him and calling the crew their hope, they´re truly kind of pathetic.

With a start, the girl remembered something very important. She locked eyes with Nami-san and she knew she was thinking the same. Kuma. Under all this chaos they forgot. Nami-san was about to tell her crew when the Shichibukai himself appeared high above them.

"I see..." A voice carried throughout the plaza. Sounded like it came from a den-den mushi. "My uneasy feeling seem to be dead on."

"So it seems." Kuma replied, not sparing them a glance just yet.

"Just when we found a successor for Crocodile...It´s not good to have another Shichibukai defeated..."

"WHO THE HELL IS THAT?!" Most of the pirates on the battlefield yelled. The Shichibukai continued to talk to whoever was on the other line just as Nami-san explained.

"During the battle...I forgot to tell you but-" she said, getting the attention from those around her. "On this island, there is another one. A Shichibukai!"

Hitomi slowly let go of Robin, eyes as hard as a rock. She just heard something nasty. She took some steps and stood slightly in front of the Strawhats. She didn´t know why she was doing that. They were pirates! But girl felt the incredible urge to protect them. She couldn't stand the thought of any of them dying. With every small action, they had gained her respect and a bit of her trust. This only happened twice after she was taken all those years ago.

"Hitomi?"

"Hitomi-chan?"

"Lil sis?"

Hitomi didn´t answer, she just turned half mouse. For more jumping power.

"H-hey...!" One of the woods-pirates stuttered scared. "I just heard something! O-o-obliterate?

"Who?...US?!"

Kuma stood up from where he was and the rest of the Strawhats put up their guard. Zoro-san stepped in front of them, in front of Hitomi. She glared at him.

"You guys get back!" He said, hand on the hilt of his sword. "I´ll do this!"

Hitomi opened her mouth to argue, but Nami-san beat her to it. "Be careful! He is some kind of ability user! I saw a person disappear when he touched them with his hand and he can use teleportation!"

The zoan raised an eyebrow. Teleportation? Wasn´t he just really fast?

One moment Kuma was taking off his clove, the next he was gone. He reappeared behind some random pirates. Hitomi didn´t care much, her focus was on the crew that saved her for the time being. The pirates were hysterical and attacked the Shichibukai. Their captain, Lola, was yelling at them to stop but it was too late. With a simple movement, Kuma sent them flying.

"Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro! Let´s start with you." He said to the person behind him. Zoro-san looked surprised at first, but his gaze hardened in determination. The wood-pirates were outraged, ready to take him on.

"It´s fine you guys! Just stand back!!" The swordsman bellowed. "He wants me! Didn´t you hear?! I accepted this fight. I don´t need your help! Don´t humiliate me!" He pointed a glare specifically at Hitomi, like he knew what she wanted to do.

"You have quite the reputation" The Shichibukai said. He sure liked his small talk. "I´ve heard that Strawhat Luffy has gathered a number of skilled crew members."

Said crew members, except for Robin-san and Zoro-san, were incredibly flattered. Hitomi shot a glance at them. What were they doing at a time like this?

"You guys are causing a lot of trouble" Kuma continued. "Even though you were unknown before, it´s not just the captain who´s getting noticed..."

Hitomi´s head snapped back forward when she heard Usopp-san yell at Zoro-san for being too reckless. Zoro unsheathed his sword and talked nonsense. Some shit about if he dies here then that's just his limit as a man. She felt the need to punch the idiot. Surprised by her own thoughts, she took a step back. Punch him? Punch an ally pirate? That´s ridiculous! She could almost hear _that_ mans mocking laughter and feel the chains around her neck. She choked on thin air.

Zoro´s attack was ineffective and before Kuma´s palm touched him, he rolled out of the way. He then dodged another attack coming his way and the rest caught a glimpse of the Shichibukai´s palm. Or should we say paw? As they found out, he is a paw-man who ate the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi. He easily repelled the Strawhat´s attacks. Kuma then pointed his paw at Franky-san, but before he could hit him with the pad cannon Hitomi jumped and used the momentum to push them both out of the way. The cannon hit the rubble where Franky was just standing. They both watched it explode with wide eyes. That could have been Franky.

The Shichibukai looked at Hitomi mildly impressed. Not many were fast enough to dodge that, let alone safe someone else. "Quite impressive little girl. I suppose you´re part of the Strawhats...State your name!"

Hitomi didn´t answer, she just glared. She wasn´t just going to tell this Goverment dog her real name, though she supposed _they_ didn´t even know. _They_ just called her **it** or **pet** or **her**. Names didn´t matter to _them_. In _their_ eyes they weren´t even human. "If the Gorverment cares enough, they will find out. I´m not revealing anything uneccesary just yet."

The pirate wasn´t responding. If anything, he was even more impressed. Just who is this girl? Pushing that aside, he turned back to his actual opponent. The swordsman was breathing heavily, but determined to fight him off. He smirked. _What a great crew your son has, Dragon_

Hitomi helplessly watched as the Shichibukai bombarded Zoro-san with his impossibly strong attacks, all while perfectly blocking his. The look he gave her earlier was an obvious order. _Do not interfere!_ She at least tried her best to protect the crew from the stray debris that was flying around. At some point, Sanji-san got tired, and worried, of just watching the swordsman getting his ass beaten, so he went and attacked Kuma. His foot connected with his face, but nothing happened. He stayed in the air for a few seconds before falling, clutching his leg and wincing in pain.

"SANJI-SAN!!"

After an unspoken agreement, Hitomi got Sanji out of Kumas range just as Usopp attacked him with one of his special stars. It didn´t do shit. Even Kuma was disappointed.

"Now that you´re all weakened like this...It isn´t interesting destroying you!" He said, turning his back to the sniper.

He then spread his arms like he was praying to god. Hitomi could see a paw-shaped layer of air that was rapidly getting smaller. When it reached the size where he could hug it, the others realised what she did too.

"He´s applying pressure to a ball of air that he repelled with his paws...!" Nami-san observed, frightened by what that meant. "It´s been compressed that much.."

She was unable to continue, so Robin-san took over."If that much air returns to its normal state, it would create a giant shockwave...Like a bomb!"

Hitomi´s tail twitched nervously. With all the damage the Strawhats suffered during the previous battle, it was nearly impossible for them to survive an attack like that. She glanced at them. They were scared, even if it didn´t show on their faces.

"I will spare your lives..."Kuma suddenly said, the bomb now fitting inside his palms. "In exchange, I will be taking Strawhat Luffy!! As long as I bring his head, the Government won´t complain."

The Stawhats whole demeanour changed. All fear gone, replaced by anger. Give him their captain? Betray their friend? Just who does this overgrown bear think he´s talking to? They are the Straw hat pirates! The crew that would do anything for one another! Go through Hell and back. Why the fuck would they give their future Pirate King to the Government? That´s ridiculous!! And they told him so. 

"That´s a pity." Was all he said in response before the bomb went off.

Hitomi shielded the person closest to her with her body. It just so happens to be Sanji who she saved earlier. But he wasn´t getting any of that and turned them around in the last possible second, taking the explosion head-on. She wanted to scream. She really wanted to. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. They hit the ground, Sanji fell unconscious. During the impact she hit her head so hard, she too lost consciousness.

It wasn´t long before she woke up. Blinking was hard. Her eyelids were glue together, most likely by blood. Lifting a trembling hand, she wiped it away and was finally able to see. To see that Sanji-san wasn´t lying beside her anymore. The other Strawhats were still unconscious though. Just to be sure, she turned mouse and crawled around the rubble she previously laid behind. Her eyes widen.

Zoro-san was awake. Not only that, but it seems like he previously managed to harm the Shichibukai. His left shoulder was cut, revealing the mechanic body of his. _So he´s a cyborg_ She spotted Sanji-san limping over just when Kuma mentioned the scientist Vegapunk. She wanted to call him back, but that would reveal both their locations.

"This is already my best offer." Kuma said coldly.

Something in Zoro´s expression changed. "I see...Go on and take the head...HOWEVER LET MINE SUBSTITUTE HIS!!" Hitomi stared at him shocked when he bowed to the other pirate. She never thought she would see a pirate bow their head to safe a Nakama. "LET ME EXCHANGE MY LIFE FOR HIS! I BEG YOU!!" He looked up, determination burning in his eyes like a wildfire. "I know my head isn´t worth much to the Government at the moment, but I´ll eventually become the number one swordsman in the world! I´d say it´s a fair exchange!"

Kuma stayed quiet for a while. "...If you have such a great ambition, then by dying for him...Will you ever be satisfied?" Hitomi glanced between Luffy, Sanji, Zoro, Kuma and the Strawhats, anxiety filling every fibre of her very being. 

"...Aside from that..." Zoro-san continued. "There is already no other way to save the crew!... How can I protect my ambition when I can´t even protect my captain? LUFFY´S THE MAN WHO´S GONNA BE THE PIRATE KING!!"

The words struck Hitomi like lightning. The whole world froze as she stared at the green-haired pirate. If the swordsman didn´t have her respect up until then, he definitely has it now. That right there...that´s a real man, a proper _human_. Living in hell for over ten years made her forget that such humans exist. Warmth spread in her chest as she looked at him, a faint smile dancing around her lips. She was a mouse though at the moment so it didn´t show.

"Hold on a minute, you bastard." The new voice snapped her back to reality. Sanji-san limped over to them, anger and worry radiating from those blue eyes. "What´ll happen if you die...? What about your dream, idiot?" Barely able of keeping himself standing, the cook came to a halt in between the two pirates. Zoro stared at him, eyes wide. "Oi, big guy! Ignore this marimo, take my life instead!" It was like someone sucked the air out of her lungs. What the hell is happening?! "The marines are still taking me lightly, but before long the most dangerous of the crew will be me! BLACK-LEG SANJI!!"

"...you...bastard!" whenever he liked it or not, Zoro-san´s voice betrayed his emotions. She wanted to stop them. Go to Kuma and let him take her back to _them_ if it meant letting Luffy and the rest live. But-the mere thought of _that_ place sent shivers down her spine and filled her with fear. No, she´s never going back! But-

"What are you waiting for?" Sanji yelled. He was shaking real bad. His injuries looked extremely painful, how is he even alive? "I´m fully prepared to die in his stake!" Tears were threatening to fall when he addressed Zoro. "Oi...Make sure to say goodbye to everyone for me. Tell them I´m sorry, but they´ll have to find a new cook-"

Finally having enough, Zoro rammed the hilt of his sword into the blond´s side. Sanji-san tried to keep himself from passing out, holding onto Zoro´s shoulder. But him being already weakened, it only took a single hit to knock him out. When the first mate talked, his voice was like steel. "I hope you will keep your promise after I die!"

Kuma sighed. "If I harm Strawhat now, I will only disgrace myself..."

""I´m in your debt"

Kuma turned and walked over to Luffy. "Trust me not to bring him harm. I am a man of my word." Hitomi held her breath when he picked the captain up. "In exchange, I will...show you hell!" He touched Luffy´s chest and a giant red bubble-like thing came out of his back. _What the heck?_ "What I just repelled from his body was pain and fatigue. This is all the damage that he accumulated in his battle with Moria." He explained while putting the rubber man back down. "If you want to take his place, take all his pain and suffering unto yourself. I´d be impossible for you to survive when you are already on the brick of death. You will die."

What?

"Here, have a small taste"

A small fraction of the bubble floated towards Zoro and went through him. Hitomi had to hold her oversensitive ears close as he screamed bloody murder. That´s small? Was Luffy really in so much pain? Zoro fell on the ground, grunting in agony.

"Well?"

The swordsman slowly stood up. "Let me...do this somewhere else!"

Hitomi wanted to scream for him not to do it. He couldn´t just die like that! What would Luffy think? He would be devastated!! She started to run after them, but someone picked her up. Flinching at the sudden touch she turned in the bony hand. Brook-san! She titled her tiny head in a silent question.

"It would be best to not interfere." He said. "He doesn´t know you, or me, were watching and he doesn´t want to. This is a sacrifice he is willing to take for your safety! If you go there now, there is a chance you´ll get killed too!"

Hitomi, now chibi and on her own feet, frowned. She looked to the spot where she had last seen them and pursed her lips. Brook is right. Even if she wanted to do something, she´s too weak.

_See? You´re so weak and pathetic! Everyone has to save and protect you all the time, you can´t do shit on your own! Always relying on others-_

"...I still want to see it." She said, a determined shimmer in her eyes. 

Brook-san scanned her face as if looking for something. He seemed to find it as he said, "If you are sure, Hitomi-san. But I will come with you, just in case and you got to promise not to do anything and wait for the others to wake up!"

Hitomi nodded, took his hand and dragged him to where the two previously disappeared to.

###### 

Hitomi ignored the party going on. Partys were always so _lound_ and full of alcohol. She doesn´t have that great of a relationship with that stuff.

She could feel Robin-san burning holes into her tiny head. She didn´t pay any mind, nor did she feel the need to explain what happened. After the Strawhats and the wood-pirates had woken up, they found her curled around the swordsman´s foot. Said swordsman was injured to the point he should have been dead long ago, but he was standing tall and barely conscious. The blood painted her fur red.

They transferred both back to the castle to have Chopper treat them. However, they were unable to separate them, as Hitomi stubbornly refused to let go. After a lot of convincing on Robin´s and Nami´s part, the girl allowed Chopper to safe him. As soon as the reindeer was done though, she was glued onto the man´s side. Right now, she was resting on his torso, as a mouse of course.

Chopper and Nami each took a plate and sat beside Zoro. They didn´t comment on her.

"He seems to be sleeping despite the noise!"

"Well, he´s a sound sleeper anyways" Nami-san shrugged. 

Luffy then came and tried to make Zoro chunk a huge barrel of sake. The glare Hitomi sent him, froze him in place. It was a glare that promised pain if anyone or anything touched the green-haired pirate. He turned around a speed-walked away. The other two chuckled softly as the mouse laid back down.

"Don´t you want something to eat, Hitomi-chan?"

Hitomi looked up at Sanji with tired eyes. She wasn´t hungry. She just ate a whole loaf of bread yesterday, she wasn´t allowed to eat more. Even if she wanted to, nothing would go down. Not after what she witnessed. She shook her head no.

Sanji frowned. He looked at Zoro, back at Hitomi, back at Zoro. He was worried. What he understood from the story the two pirates told him, Hitomi saw it all. She was watching the whole time. Kuma, the cook´s sacrifice, the first mate´s determination to protect the crew. He´s sure it took quite a toll on the teen. What he didn´t know, was that the teen has seen much much worse than that over time. It was just the first time seeing something like that happened to someone close to her. She wasn´t there to witness her only friends sacrifice. You normally don´t try to make friends in _that_ place. It would just backfire.

With a sigh, he left her alone.

Her ears twitched when a piano started playing. Turning her head just enough to look at Brook-san, she sighed pleased. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the music. She listened to the conversation of Luffy and Brook with mixed emotions. Happy for Brook, but feeling terribly sorry for Laboon. The poor whale had been waiting over fifty years for his Nakama to return. A wave of sadness suddenly overcame her when she realised she had to leave them and return to _that_ place sooner or later. Besides that, she didn´t belong here. They all have their hopes and dreams they would happily die for, whereas she has nothing.

Brook´s full story did nothing to lighten her mood. Now she was even sadder that such a good person had to go through that. But that´s how the world works. She learned it the hard way. Her eyes darkened. Loneliness is the worst feeling in the world.

When Brook stopped playing, everyone yelled at him to continue. He ignored them as he grabbed one side of his skull and flipped it open. They all, yes Hitomi too, gaped at him wide-eyed. HE CAN DO THAT?? He took out a tone dial.

"Ahh! That´s from sky island!"

"You are familiar with it? Anyway, I want to play this to Laboon when I meet him at last," Brook-san explained to Luffy. "I carry it with me at all times."

"So you recorded something in there?" Usopp-san asked.

"A song! It´s the voices of my crewmates singing, back when they were still alive! It´s a message to Laboon. To tell him that we were all happy and merry right at the end of our journey! Would you mind if I play it?"

"Ohh! I wanna hear!! I´m sure it´ll make Laboon happy!" Luffy grinned, flipping on his stomach. Hitomi wondered how he didn´t fall off the piano.

Brook-san pressed the shell and it played the melody of Bink´s sake. Hitomi closed her eyes again as everyone sang along. She enjoyed the happy atmosphere as much as she could. It wouldn´t last long for her after all. She gave herself a week at best.

The song ended and everyone resumed eating laughing happily. The fact that Brook-san listened to this song over and over again during those fifty years was in no way surprising. He put the dial back to where he took it out from, shocking the pirates once again. It seems they haven´t gotten to terms with the fact that he can open his skull and store stuff in it.

"Every single day was painful. To be honest, I could see no sign of hope. But you know Luffy-san? I´M SO HAPPY TO BE ALIVE!!" The skeleton cried at the top of his lungs. Luffy gave a one-hundred-watt smile. "I TRULY AM SO GLAD TO BE ALIVE!! THIS GLORIOUS DAY...HAS FINALLY COME!!"

Hitomi smiled to herself. It was nice to see a person finding their hope once in a while. It went unnoticed to her, but Chopper saw that tiny smile and his grin stretched from one ear to the other.

"Ah, would you mind if I become your Nakama?"

"Sounds great!"

And that was that. Brook is now officially a member of the Strawhat Pirates. The crew, except for Robin and Nami, went and threw him in the air a couple of times. Hitomi didn´t pay attention to them as all of it was dedicated to Zoro. Did she imagine it, or did he really just stir? When she darted her eyes away, Brook announced his bounty, which was 33 million, and his loyalty to Luffy.

"Strawhat Luffy, from this day forth I pledge you my life and offer you my service! I hope to not be a burden to you all!!"

The Strawhats had all satisfied smiles on their faces as they took in their new Nakama.

Two days later and after not leaving his side, Zoro finally woke up.

Hitomi was curled into a little ball on the crook of his neck when he stirred a little and opened his eyes. Hitomi immediately sat on top of his torso to get a better look on him.

Silver orbs were unfocused for a while. It took him a minute or two, maybe three, to see. His eyes wandered before settling on her. A faint smile tugged the corner of his lips. "Did you eat anything at all?"

Hitomi was between laughing in relief and smacking him. In the end, all she did was pout and get off him. She sat right beside him in her normal form as he tied to sit up.

"Do I have to call Chopper?" She smirked and laughed at the half-hearted glare he sent her. The glare soothed into a fond smile.

"You saw?" Zoro asked, breaking the silence that had been stretching out.

"...yeah" Hitomi nodded, locking eyes with the ground. "...you were really cool, you know? But incredibly stupid! You could have just given _me_ to him. I´m sure the Government wouldn´t complain..."

Zoro looked at her with a mixed confusion and the ´are-you-stupid´ look. "I may not know why, but we would never do that! We are Nakama, you know?"

She froze and stared at him wide-eyed. ".......Nakama? Me?"

Zoro chuckled softly as he stood up and walked away. "If you hadn't noticed, then maybe you should rethink who the stupid one really is." And with that, he left.


End file.
